Makoi boys lucrative trade in drugs from New Zealand, is helping to finance gun smuggling of some heavy weaponry from the United States.

lucrative trade in drugs from New Zealand, is helping to finance gun smuggling of some heavy weaponry from the United States.In Samoa strong tradition balances precariously alongside a growing guns and drugs culture.There is a group in Samoa known as the Makoi boys and their business is selling marijuana and P. Their patch is controlled with their weapons of choice - machetes, rocks and axes.
But in Samoa there is another weapon of choice. Guns of all sizes are being smuggled in from the US, and it's becoming big business.
Weapons are hidden in car boots and sold at prices ranging from $300 to $1,500 depending on the type of gun. Even gang members from the US, Samoans who have done prison time and are then deported back to the islands, are surprised at what is now available. But while high powered weapons are easily available in Samoa they are not often used, it's more about flexing muscle. "If south Auckland had access to the guns you can get here in Samoa, south Auckland would be a war zone, a different place and if kids in south Auckland were running around with AK47s they wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, whereas here you can't," says Herman Loto Salaria, Security Specialist - Pride. Those smuggling and selling weapons also deal methamphetamine brought in from New Zealand. There are several drug lords whose clients include people in top positions of responsibility, so they work in the shadows as there is too much at stake.It appears young Samoans from New Zealand and others with gang affiliations overseas are attracting unwanted attention by selling drugs to kids.

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