Fiji police have confirmed two Samoan nationals, who confessed to shooting a Sydney gang leader in Vietnam and are facing a potential death penalty, transited through the island nation's international airport.
Joseph Vaa, 27, admitted on Vietnamese television to gunning down suspected cartel ringleader Lorenzo Lemalu Tovia, outside a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City on May 21.
His associate, Steve Tofa, 23, also called Tafia in some news reports, then confessed to being his accomplice in the shooting.
Tovia died at the scene while his associate Sauni Sam, 27, is in intensive care in hospital with serious injuries.
Tovia is believed to be the mastermind behind Sydney's 'Coconut Cartel', which reportedly broke away and declared war on the rival Alameddine gang earlier this year.
A video on Vietnamese television channel VTV9 showed Vaa and Tofa, wearing black hoods and handcuffs, while being marched into a room by police to confess. The footage showed that the two were reading their confessions from a script.
Fiji police spokesperson Ana Naisoro told RNZ Pacific that the two "travelled through Fiji, using their Samoan passports".
However, Naisoro declined to confirm local media reports that there had been a security breach, which was only discovered after overseas law enforcement agencies shared intelligence with Fijian border officials.
According to local reports, the suspects used fake passports and false names to transit through Fiji's main international airport in Nadi.
Fiji police and immigration are now reportedly working closely with international police networks, including Interpol, to trace the pair's movements during their short stay in the country.
Capital punishment
Australian drug policy researcher Dr Ben Mostyn told RNZ Morning Report the alleged hitmen could face execution under Vietnam's capital punishment laws.
The Sydney University senior lecturer said the Australian and Samoan governments were opposed to capital punishment and could try to intervene.
"Often when you have these sort of dual citizens in foreign countries you can get diplomatic behaviour from both countries trying to intervene."
But he said "quite a few" Australian nationals have been executed in South East Asia in the past, despite diplomatic efforts.
The duo were initially thought to be Australian but 7News reports they used fake passports and false names; Lang Kenny Trong Minh do and Justin John White, to travel to Vietnam. They were arrested at the Cambodian border less than three days after the shooting.
Mostyn said police believed the killing was meant to send a message to the cartel, which was trying to separate from a larger gang.
Violence around the drug trade is not unusual in South East Asia, he added.
Samoa authorities react
Meanwhile, Samoa police have frozen the bank accounts of the duo as well as four other people as their investigations into the bizarre international case widen.
Documents obtained by RNZ Pacific show the transnational crime unit issued an urgent directive to the Central Bank of Samoa (CBS) on Wednesday, ordering six accounts and transactions connected to them to be immobilised.
CBS governor Maiava Atalina Ainuu-Enari immediately ordered commercial banks to freeze accounts belonging to Vaa and Tovia "without delay", as well as those belonging to two New Zealand nationals, a United States citizen and a Thai.
Those named in the order, issued on May 27 under Samoa's money laundering laws, were Tafia Tovia (aka Steve Tofa), Vaa Soloa Vaa (aka Joseph Vaa, Connor Songkran Strickert, Fred Olivia Junior Papalii, Olini Atiua and James Tuisavailuu Atua.
The document states the request relates to "an ongoing investigation into a serious violent incident that occurred in Vietnam" and "two Samoan nationals alleged to have been involved in the shooting of another Samoan man, believed to be associated with organised criminal activity."
Authorities also identified Unalei Car Rentals in the Apia suburb of Vaitele as an "associated entity" linked to the investigation.
The order stated that the Financial Intelligence Unity (FIU) had grounds to suspect the transactions involved proceeds of serious crime, money laundering offences or offences linked to the financing of terrorism.
The development comes after three people due to fly to Auckland on Air New Zealand were stopped at Faleolo International Airport on Wednesday night.
Sources told the Samoa Observer that a man was given a stop order before boarding the aircraft. Video footage reportedly obtained by the newspaper shows a man dressed in black being escorted by police at the airport.
In a bizarre twist, the police later issued a statement saying they were seeking Strickert for questioning.
The Thai citizen claimed on Facebook that he had already been questioned by the police, was "willing to cooperate fully" and had "nothing to hide".
'Highly dangerous'
Lieutenant General Mai Hoàng, the director of the HCM City Police, said authorities would deal strictly with all lawbreakers operating within Vietnamese territory.
"If the subjects provide sincere declarations, they will receive the leniency of Vietnamese law," he stated.
Local police said the alleged hitmen used "military-grade firearms" during the attack last Wednesday night outside the Cee'f seafood restaurant on Truong Dinh Street in Ben Thanh ward. Surveillance footage showed them fleeing on foot immediately afterwards.
Deputy director of police Nguyen Thanh Hung told state media that police used surveillance measures and digital mapping to trace their movements and escape route.
Investigators issued emergency detention orders against the two suspects and said at the time that they were "highly dangerous" and "prepared to resist arrest".
The Khmer Times reported that during their initial interrogation, the suspects told police that they were acting on behalf of an individual based abroad.
They said they had arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM city on May 14 and spent several days monitoring the activities of the two Australian victims.
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