Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections Services successfully completed Operation Island Chiefs 2023.

Over the last 2 weeks SPPCS Maritime Wing joined in on Operation, Island Chiefs 2023. An annual regional monitoring control and surveillance operation which included 10 other Pacific Island Chiefs member states; namely Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Palau, PNG, Nauru, RMI, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu; in conjunction with assets and personnel from Pacific Quadrilateral (Pacific QUADS) nations (Australia, France, New Zealand, United States) and other broader law enforcement agencies.

The operation emphasizes on the inspection of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing including breaches of license conditions and labour standards. Encourage cooperative surveillance engagement and utilise remote sensing information to drive intelligence-led operations.

The operation was conducted from 07 August – 18 August 2023 with 5 days of training and system familiarization which was conducted prior to the week of operation.