Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jose Sousa-Santos
Cook Islands cocaine haul raises renewed questions over drug routes in the Pacific
Cook Islands Police are seeking legal advice on how to destroy nearly 27 kilograms of cocaine found on a remote reef as questions grow over how major drug shipments are moving through the Pacific. The 26.49kg haul was discovered by a fisherman on Mitiaro in July. The 19 cocaine bricks were tied with rope, caught on coral, and fitted with a light that acted as a beacon. Police media adviser Trevor Pitt says the drugs remain secure while authorities work out how they can be safely disposed of.
China, Criminal Networks, and Gray Zone Competition
Strategic competition in the Pacific has reinforced the value of state-condoned illicit disruptors such as criminal networks as strategically useful and plausibly deniable tools of the state. For criminal actors, the benefits are access and influence. China is utilizing state-condoned illicit disruptors as a form of gray zone activity in the Pacific.
Technology is making the Pacific’s drug highway harder to detect
Narco-subs, drone systems, and encrypted finance are turning the Pacific from a transit zone to a node in the global drug economy. By Jose Sousa-Santos In the global narcotics trade, transnational criminal networks are consolidating their hold on the Pacific drug highway. Technology is enabling these networks to adapt and refine tactics to evade detection in the region, resulting in a trafficking system that is distributed and resilient.
Technology makes Pacific drug highway harder to detect
IN the global narcotics trade, transnational criminal networks are consolidating their hold on the Pacific drug highway. Technology is enabling these networks to adapt and refine tactics to evade detection in the region, resulting in a trafficking system that is distributed and resilient. The approach is less about the protection of individual shipments than ensuring the redundancy of the system as a whole. The repeated discovery of “narco-subs” in Pacific waters is an example of this evolution.
Technology is making the Pacific’s drug highway harder to detect
In the global narcotics trade, transnational criminal networks are consolidating their hold on the Pacific drug highway. Technology is enabling these networks to adapt and refine tactics to evade detection in the region, resulting in a trafficking system that is distributed and resilient. The approach is less about the protection of individual shipments than ensuring the redundancy of the system as a whole. The repeated discovery of “narco-subs” in Pacific waters is an example of this evolution.
Regionalism is the Pacific’s antidote to global instability
The current global energy crisis is a stark reminder that the Pacific is not insulated from global crises. The impact of ongoing conflict in the Middle East, are being transmitted directly into the region’s economies, governance systems and communities.
Fiji’s cocaine seizure shows the Pacific is learning to fight back
By Jose Sousa-Santos The recent seizure of more than two tonnes of cocaine in Fiji, and the arrest of four South American nationals allegedly linked to international trafficking networks, marks a meaningful shift in how Pacific Island states and communities are confronting transnational organised crime. While drug trafficking through the Pacific is not new, what is changing is the degree of local confidence, capability and ownership shaping the response.
Fiji’s cocaine seizure shows the Pacific is learning to fight back
The recent seizure of more than two tonnes of cocaine in Fiji, and the arrest of four South American nationals allegedly linked to international trafficking networks, marks a meaningful shift in how Pacific Island states and communities are confronting transnational organised crime. While drug trafficking through the Pacific is not new, what is changing is the degree of local confidence, capability and ownership shaping the response.
From transit hub to drug market: Criminal syndicates transform Pacific threats
The seizure of 4.8 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in Fiji this month sheds light on the level of criminal infiltration and insider threat in the agencies entrusted with safeguarding the nation. Allegations are levelled against members of Fiji’s Counter Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Fiji Revenue and Customs Services (FRCS) over involvement in trafficking.
Amid Illicit drug boom, Is the Pacific’s regional security architecture fit for purpose?
By Jose Sousa-Santos In January, Fiji police seized more than four tonnes of methamphetamine during two raids in Nadi, marking one of the largest drug seizures in the country’s history. But while Fiji police made the seizure, they weren’t working alone.
Illicit Drugs Are Undermining Pacific Security
By Jose Sousa-Santos A quick succession of drug busts in Fiji earlier this year — the seizure of 3.5 tons of crystal methamphetamine followed by another 1.1 tons — underscored the threat that the illicit drug trade and narco-corruption pose to the stability and security of countries and societies situated along the so-called Pacific drug highway.
Amid Illicit Drug Boom, Is the Pacific’s Regional Security Architecture Fit for Purpose?
This is part two in a three-part series on the Pacific drug trade. Read part one here. In January, Fiji police seized more than four tons of methamphetamine during two raids in Nadi, marking one of the largest drug seizures in the country’s history. But while Fiji police made the seizure, they weren’t working alone.
Article: Illicit Drugs Are Undermining Pacific Security
Following the first methamphetamine seizure in January, Fiji’s acting police commissioner, Juki Fong Chew,describedit as “one of the biggest seizures ever” as well as the largest methamphetamine bust in Fiji since 2004. This raises many questions, including: Where did the drugs come from? Which syndicates, cartels and outlaw motorcycle gangs were involved? And who are the local facilitators?
Fiji snub signals Pacific shift away from China
Skip to content The diplomatic spat surrounding China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu’s visit to Suva in April 2023 captured shifting geostrategic developments in Fiji. Ma’s meeting with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was canceled due to a bereavement in Rabuka’s family. Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica was instead put forward to meet with Ma. Chinese officials initially rejected the proposition, insisting that Ma would only meet with the Fijian prime minister.
Fiji’s geopolitical tilt
Author: Jose Sousa-Santos, ANU and Anna Powles, Massey University The diplomatic spat surrounding China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu’s visit to Suva in April 2023 captured shifting geostrategic developments in Fiji. Ma’s meeting with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was cancelled due to a bereavement in Rabuka’s family.
The Pacific Islands become collateral damage on drug superhighway
(THE INTERPRETER) The illicit drugs trade in the Pacific Islands continues to evolve despite Covid-19 border closures. The seizure of more than 500 kilograms of cocaine in Papua New Guinea in 2020 demonstrated that the pandemic had not diminished the trafficking of drugs through the region.
The Pacific Islands become collateral damage on drug superhighway
The illicit drugs trade in the Pacific Islands continues to evolve despite Covid-19 border closures. The seizure of more than 500 kilograms of cocaine in Papua New Guinea in 2020 demonstrated that the pandemic had not diminished the trafficking of drugs through the region.
Drug trafficking in the Pacific Islands: The impact of transnational crime
The impact on security and societies in the Pacific Narco-corruption Corruption remains a critical challenge to governance and an obstacle to development in the Pacific.[80] The infiltration of key government agencies and departments, corruption of public officials, and tactics from coercion to intimidation and outright violence are integral components of illicit drug markets.
Peace Unravels in the Solomon Islands
Anna Powles & Jose Sousa-Santos East Asia Forum November 30, 2021 On 25 November, a day after the riots in Honiara, Australia announced it would deploy police and military personnel following a request for assistance from the government of the Solomon Islands. This is fast shaping up to be a regional response to the unrest in the Solomon Islands. Read Full Article »
The dark side of reopening borders in the Pacific
As the Pacific reopens to the world after COVID-19, it faces serious risks from transnational crime, Jose Sousa-Santos writes. When Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama announced Fiji would open its borders to international travellers on 1 December 2021, much of the focus was inevitably on the revival of the tourist sector, which comprises 40 per cent of the country’s economy. However, there is a dark side to the reopening of borders across the Pacific.
Peace unravels in the Solomon Islands
30 November 2021 Authors: Anna Powles, Massey University and Jose Sousa-Santos, Australia Pacific Security College On 25 November, a day after the riots in Honiara, Australia announced it would deploy police and military personnel following a request for assistance from the government of the Solomon Islands. This is fast shaping up to be a regional response to the unrest in the Solomon Islands.
Are Pacific countries at risk of becoming a gateway for terrorists?
A recent attack in New Zealand highlights the need for more regional cooperation on counterterrorism in the Pacific, Jose Sousa-Santos writes. In the aftermath of the August ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attack in Auckland, New Zealand, it was revealed that the Islamic State-radicalised perpetrator, Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, had visited Samoa in 2016. Concerningly, this trip occurred while he was on New Zealand’s terror watch list.
Bridging the cultural gap
For effective cooperation in combatting transnational crime, Australia and New Zealand need to look at a hybrid system of policing underpinned by cultural awareness, Jose Sousa-Santos writes. At his farewell parade in Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s recently departed Police Commissioner Stephen Caldwell highlighted the challenges posed by the increasing prevalence of illicit drugs in the community and the need to forge partnerships with local and regional actors to stop their spread in the community.
Policing transnational and organised crime
In order to combat transnational crime in the Pacific, larger states must allow local partners to take the lead on development, Danielle Watson, Jose Sousa-Santos, and Loene M Howes write. The Pacific Island region is characterised by vast geographic expanses, porous maritime borders, and relatively small populations scattered across multiple islands, and it is growing in attractiveness as a regional crime hub.
Covid-19 and the crime–terror nexus in the cyber domain | The Strategist
When the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley announced, ‘We’re at war with Covid-19, we’re at war with terrorists, and we’re at war with drug cartels’, he articulated a fear shared by many who watch illicit non-state actors. Transnational organised crime and terrorist groups have a crucial thing in common: their business models are built around exploiting governance dysfunction and vulnerabilities.
COVID-19 and geopolitics in the Pacific | East Asia Forum
4 April 2020 Authors: Anna Powles, Massey University and Jose Sousa-Santos, Victoria University The COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific has several frontlines. In addition to health security, a geopolitical front has opened up: China and the contest for influence in the Pacific region. The Pacific is a contested arena between China and US allies such as Australia. It was inevitable that pandemic diplomacy would emerge as either a fault line or a site of cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.
COVID-19 exposes cracks in Pacific regionalism | East Asia Forum
24 March 2020 Authors: Anna Powles and Jose Sousa-Santos, Massey University At the time of writing, there are 63 reported cases of COVID-19 in the Pacific. This includes one in Papua New Guinea, three in Fiji, seven in New Caledonia, 23 in French Polynesia, 29 in Guam and suspected cases in Samoa. The number is relatively low but there is a sense that tragedy is unfolding in slow motion across a region where health sectors are already under-funded and poorly equipped.
Russia ships arms to Fiji: What will be the quid pro quo?
When the MV Saint Confidence and MV Solidat arrived in Suva Harbour last week to deliver a consignment of donated Russian weapons and equipment to Fiji, it sparked an immediate reaction. opposition MPs and security analysts have made several claims including: the deal was clandestine, the weapons could potentially be used against Fijian citizens; and Russia’s increased engagement with Fiji is an opening move in a battle for influence in the Asia Pacific region.
Russia ships arms to Fiji: What will be the quid pro quo?
When the MV Saint Confidence and MV Solidat arrived in Suva Harbour last week to deliver a consignment of donated Russian weapons and equipment to Fiji, it sparked an immediate reaction. opposition MPs and security analysts have made several claims including: the deal was clandestine, the weapons could potentially be used against Fijian citizens; and Russia’s increased engagement with Fiji is an opening move in a battle for influence in the Asia Pacific region.
Russia ships arms to Fiji: What will be quid pro quo?
(From the National Interest) By Anna Powles and Jose Sousa-Santos When the MV Saint Confidence and MV Solidat arrived in Suva Harbor last week to deliver a consignment of donated Russian weapons and equipment to Fiji, it sparked an immediate reaction.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Jose
Contact Jose, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack