Cocaine use surprises French Polynesia atoll

Reports from French Polynesia say young people on the atoll of Faaite in the Tuamotus have been consuming cocaine since a yacht with a huge cargo of the drug ran on the atoll reef last month.

The public broadcaster reported that the mayor of Faaite Jean Louis Williams had contacted police to come to the atoll.

In April, authorities found 237kg of cocaine on a burnt out yacht on Faaite after its two sailors had been taken to Papeete and detained.

The yacht had run aground and was on fire when the two men were rescued and given medical care.

When locals tried to clean up the debris of the burnt yacht, they found the cocaine amid signs that hundreds of kilogrammes of cocaine had already been burnt.

It is suspected that young people kept some of the drug and keep it buried.

Two Spanish men were arrested over the drug seizure.

In January, 1.4 tonnes of cocaine was seized in the region on two other yachts.

 

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