Drug defendant arraigned in High Court

Drug defendant Falepule Mata'utia was arraigned in the High Court today. The woman in her late 30s was charged following a Post Office drug bust.

Mata'utia is facing drug charges of unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and illegal possession of marijuana.

She is out on bail of $15,000. Court filings say a parcel was addressed to Baby Mata’utia, the defendant’s sister, who uplifted the package.

However, during an inspection, it was discovered that it contained cannabis. Customs notified the Vice and Narcotics Unit concerning a parcel containing 497 rolled marijuana joints and a CDB vape pre-loaded.

The sister contacted the defendant to come into the customs office where the box was held. The package contained snack bars, Ziploc bags containing coffee grains, and small taped brown bags.

The small brown bags contained numerous joints with a strong odor of cannabis that circulated throughout the room.

Each snack bar wrapper had a different amount of joints inside. The sister told Police that she did not know anything about the package.

The women were then escorted to the Police headquarters, where the defendant refused to make a statement to the Police.