Myth, murder & meth: story behind Fiji’s biggest drug bust

Court finds foreign syndicate links, but verdict points to a local kingpin — and the Natadola murders still haunt

A gruesome double murder nearly a decade ago on a Fijian beach remains unsolved—and continues to cast a long, bloody shadow, especially over the country’s drug underworld.

Among drug smugglers, whispers persist of the “Russian Mafia” running Fiji from the shadows. The warning is blunt: snitch, and you’ll end up like Yuriy Shipulin and Nataliya Gerasimova—found rotting, headless and footless, tangled in a fishing net on Natadola Beach.

But the reality, Lautoka High Court Justice Aruna Aluthge suggests, is less romantic and more local. His comments come in a substantial, if clumsy, judgment convicting nine people for importing 4.5 tonnes of methamphetamine — police say the haul was worth FJ$2 billion. 

The shipment arrived in December 2023 aboard an unflagged and unnamed superyacht anchored outside Fiji’s waters, was transferred to a local barge and offloaded at Fantasy Island, the marina servicing Denarau. It was then trucked to a “tin house” near Nadi. Someone tipped the police, who seized the consignment on 15 January 2024. Some packages had already been rebranded for local sale under the name “Kadavu Kava.”

Informants’ names are suppressed, but their fear of a Natadola fate is clear.

“The undetected importation of such a huge consignment of hard drugs into Fiji through sea routes proves how weak our border protection mechanism was. There was alarming evidence that some officers of the Narcotic Bureau of the Fiji Police Force, whose task was to free Fiji from the drug menace, were complicit with drug dealers. However, there is no plausible evidence that the accused in this case were deterred from reporting due to the trust issues with the Fiji Police Force. 

“The successful raid, investigation and prosecution of this case proved that the Fijian law enforcement agencies, despite many challenges they face, are still capable of tackling the challenges posed by sophisticated drug cartels which were equipped with superyachts, satellite phones, encrypted messaging apps and the blessings of local politicians.”

A record haul. Fiji Police photo

Justice Aluthge was blunt: the Russian-Mafia story didn’t fit the evidence.