SEVERAL employees of Taaone Hospital in French Polynesia are under investigation for involvement in methamphetamine trafficking.
Hospital management confirmed the probe a day before three stretcher-bearers and an unemployed man appeared before judges and were placed in pre-trial detention.
According to the prosecutor, the case involves “two transporters, an organizer, and a financier.” The four men face charges of attempted importation or complicity. Three of them have worked at the hospital for years, while the fourth, unemployed and living with a disability, is the brother of one of the stretcher-bearers.
Two of the suspects were arrested in Los Angeles earlier in April with 240 grams of methamphetamine. They were repatriated to Tahiti, leading investigators to detain the other two men.
Lawyers argued against detention, citing health and personal circumstances. One defendant, previously convicted in 2024 for complicity in drug trafficking, was described as a former user who relapsed after the death of his infant child. His lawyer requested house arrest with an electronic bracelet, citing prison overcrowding. Another defendant, aged 50, suffers from mental health issues, with his lawyer warning that detention could endanger his life.
The remaining two stretcher-bearers were portrayed as men who became involved without fully understanding the consequences. One, a 44-year-old father, was said to have participated without clear intent, while the other, a 60-year-old veteran hospital worker, allegedly attempted to smuggle drugs “without even knowing what he had bought in the United States.”
All four men have been remanded in custody pending trial, scheduled for June 18.
Source: Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes
