Samoa police patrol boat may be armed

Apia, SAMOA — The Samoa Police Service is keeping its options open about arming its patrol boat which is to monitor illegal fishing.

The service will take delivery of a new state-of-the-art patrol boat, Nafanua II, in September and the Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil wants to keep an eye on how the future shapes up with their surveillance work.

He told Newsline Samoa that the main intention for arming the Nafanua II would be to ensure the safety of the crew during operations at sea.

He said the service is very confident with the patrol boat it will be receiving and the capability of the crew to patrol Samoa's economic zone.