SUVA - A massive illegal narcotics factory believed to be run by Malaysian and Hong Kong gangsters was uncovered in Fiji today, in what investigators described as one of the world's biggest ever drug-busts.

Fiji police commissioner Andrew Hughes told reporters that "Operation Outrigger" smashed an operation on the verge of producing a billion Fiji dollars worth of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice.

A laboratory and factory at the Laucala Beach area of Suva had just started producing the drug and police said it would have churned out 1,000 kilograms of the substance within a fortnight.

Police spokesman Mesake Koroi told AFP that seven men, including four believed to be from Hong Kong, had been arrested. The drugs were destined for Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe.

The operation was "believed to be a cartel with Hong Kong and Malaysian connections.... The thing is being financed from Hong Kong," he said.

Fiji has only a small illicit drug market but fears have grown in recent years the islands and neighbouring Pacific states could be used as transit points by drug cartels exploiting what is perceived as relaxed local policing.

In 2000 an Asian gang shipped one of the world's largest ever quantities of heroin - 300 kilograms - to Suva ahead of the Sydney Olympics. It got caught up though in a coup in May 2000 and eventually was seized by authorities.

Key hub

Fiji, lying between New Zealand and Hawaii, is a key shipping and airline hub with direct links to Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the French territory of New Caledonia.

Like the 2000 bust, Operation Outrigger involved Fiji Police and Customs, the Australian Federal Police and the New Zealand police.

They had been monitoring the operation for 14 months and according to Hughes, only moved when manufacture began because of potential environmental and public health risks over large quantities of toxic chemicals being used illicitly.

When the two buildings were raided five kilograms of crystal methamphetamine was found and full-scale manufacturing was underway.

"This is a frightening example of transnational organized crime elements using Fiji as a staging ground for their illegal activities," Hughes told reporters.

"Increasingly we are seeing these elements coming to Fiji and joining up with local organized criminal groups."

He said an Asian expatriate had leased the factory.

When the authorities hit the factory they found drugs "bubbling away" in the factory stacked with drums of chemicals and equipment.

The bust was sending a message that Fiji will not be used as a place to manufacture illicit drugs.

Significant blow

In a statement in Wellington New Zealand Acting National Crime Manager Larry Reid said the drug operation was "one of the largest in the world".

The "the time-consuming inquiry is a significant blow against methamphetamine coming into Australasia and the South Pacific".

Reid said it would take New Zealand police officers experienced in the dismantling of such labs two weeks to dismantle the factory.

"The chemicals and toxic waste from the site are highly volatile and require experienced handling," Reid said.

Fiji Pharmaceutical Society president Pushp Chung told Fiji TV it was common knowledge within the industry the drug was being manufactured here but they did not know who and where.

The raw materials needed were widely available. - AFP