The former customs officer who was fined $3,000 for two counts of importation of methamphetamine by the District Court must have been laughing his way out of the court. He imported close to half a kilogram of the narcotic and was told to pay his fine and go home.

By far, that has to be the most lenient sentence handed down to somebody who was found to have been either importing or in possession of meth.

The blunder in this case is that Pueleo Peseta was charged under the Customs Act and not under the Narcotics Acts, which should have been the case. Why was he charged under the Customs Act? Did his fellow customs officers know the outcome of charging him under that Act?

As required by the Customs Act, Peseta was handed over to the police. It should have clicked to the police when laying charges that bringing in almost half a kilogram or close to 500 grams of meth is very serious.

Even if the police were advised by the Customs Office on the charge, there should have been legal opinion sought because of the large amount of meth. If that did not happen, then the prosecution should have acted and realised that the charges were wrong.

There were no applications made by any officer in the carriage of the file to amend the charges so the punishment could fit the crime.

On 4 December 2019, a US-based Samoan man was jailed in Samoa for three years after being found guilty of possession and importation of the drug methamphetamine.

Tafuna Tauialo, 45, was arrested after being found with 25.8 grams of meth upon entering Samoa.

Customs and police officers using a sniffer dog found the illegal drug in a jacket in the defendant's luggage.

Justice Leiātaualesā Darrel Clarke said it would be a mistake for people to think Samoa lacked the capacity at its border to detect illegal narcotics.

He said the presence of sniffer dogs should give anyone thinking of importing drugs to Samoa pause to reconsider, due to the consequences.

On 3 November 2022, a drug offender was jailed for two years after the Supreme Court noted an increase in the number of methamphetamine users.

Junior Filifili Prichard of Vaigaga had pleaded guilty to joint charges of possession of narcotics, namely seven zip lock bags containing methamphetamine weighing 2.36 grams, possession of narcotics namely three marijuana branches, possession of utensils and possession without a permit. 

On 12 May 2023, Eletise Ulima was sentenced to three months in jail. He was charged under the Narcotics Act 1967: Possession of a Class A narcotic, namely methamphetamine found in one zip-lock plastic bag weighing 0.07g.

On 30 July 2018, Tapu Toloaga was jailed for two years for possession of 7.9 grams of meth.

Compared to these guys, Peseta was slapped on the wrist. Perhaps this is a lesson for all law enforcement authorities to have a better working synergy so criminals intending to bring narcotics into the country are dealt with accordingly.

This is also a lesson for the prosecutors to check on the files and where needed, amend the charges. This could also be an outcome of the shortage of lawyers in the Office of the Attorney General. The file could have been passed around until a little before trial.

The police and the customs certainly need to work much closer. They need to have an agreement in place that people bringing in meth and other narcotics should not be charged under the Customs Act. The judiciary should have an investigation into this to find out how this shortcoming happened and perhaps have an advisory paper that could lead to a policy and an agreement between the customs and the police.

This conviction and sentence are not a win for the prosecution in this case, it is a win for the defence as they realised the gravity of the blunder made by the customs, police and the prosecution. Their client gets to go home and pay a measly fine for bringing in almost half a kilogram of meth while other people out there have gone to jail for having a fraction of that amount.

It is also time to change the archaic laws made almost 50 years ago and for newer laws regarding such offences which are clear and defined.