It has happened again, another boat left Pago Pago in American Samoa and arrived in Samoa without having some of its required documents. It is an occurrence that is becoming all too common. This shows how powerless we are in protecting our borders.

The boat in question is called the "Double Shot" which arrived last weekend from American Samoa and transported passengers and a dead body. The Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure detained the boat for not complying with certain laws and it was released on Tuesday morning.

The boat Double Shot has been a frequent visitor to Samoa, especially for game fishing tournaments and the captain of the boat must have followed all the procedures on his part. There is no question that the intent of the boat was for a legitimate trip barring a few paperwork that the individuals travelling as passengers did not fulfill and was done later.

The question is not of this particular boat but of the way boats from the territory can enter into Samoa waters without much detection. The Double Shot came straight to the marina at Matautu as it intended to do.

What about those boats that do not berth at any of the ports? This suggests that a route exists where there is cooperation between local boats and foreign boats in how unwanted substances are coming into the country.

It is a known fact that methamphetamine has become a common drug in the country. It is also known that police have been confiscating illegal firearms and ammunition more frequently than before. There has always been the question of how does meth and firearms enter into this country?

Samoa’s maritime patrolling capacity is not strong enough on its own. There is a lack of resources and even with the surveillance technology, some of the boats passing through are undetected. It has been suggested more than once that the meth in Samoa comes from the neighbouring country and other times from New Zealand or Australia.

These are indicators that there is more that needs to be done to protect the borders. Maybe, it is time, for the nation to consider an investment into air surveillance through the use of drones or the purchase of a small aircraft with the capability to provide that assistance.

The container x-ray has arrived but it is not being used yet suggesting that there are things that are still slipping through. These are serious issues that would shape the way the nation is heading. The impact of meth in Samoa cannot be emphasised enough. The existence of organised crime is already evident and meth can be bought very easily.

Academic Jose Sousa-Santos in his new study said that the Pacific Islands were located along licit and illicit maritime trade highways that span the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific “drug highway” has become the main transit route for drugs and chemical precursors being trafficked from Asia and South America to lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand.

Drug trafficking and other transnational crimes are enabled by the region’s vast and porous maritime borders, weak jurisdictions and inadequate legislation, corruption and limited enforcement capabilities.

A recent report by the National Research Institute in Papua New Guinea cited weak governance, corruption, improved technology, poverty and geography as key factors contributing to the growth of transnational crime in the Pacific’s most populous state.

In recent years, the illicit drug trade has spilled over into domestic markets in the Pacific Islands region where the drugs are increasingly being produced and consumed. Mirroring international trends, organised crime syndicates and cartels have colluded and adapted to changing markets.

Starting in the mid-2000s, outlaw motorcycle gangs such as the Australian Rebels and the New Zealand Head Hunters began establishing chapters in the Pacific Islands, to better control and facilitate the trafficking of illicit drugs into Australia and New Zealand.

These Pacific Island chapters quickly became nodes in a criminal network stretching across Asia, Europe and North America — ones that allowed indigenous and local crime syndicates to work in partnership with transnational syndicates that utilise the Pacific trafficking routes and offer access to the Australian and New Zealand drug markets.

On Thursday, an Australian Navy ship will be welcomed in Apia as it will accompany the Nafanua III on a patrol of Samoa’s Exclusive Economic Zones. This is the type of assistance that the government should ask of our development partners. All of them have this capability and if this assistance is strategically planned, surveillance can be increased and Samoa’s borders could be better protected.

The security of the nation is a big issue and equal importance should be placed on it.