Fiji's sole armed police unit - the elite Tactical Response Division - is no longer operational on the orders of the military-appointed police commissioner. A statement says the unit was disbanded on February 1. "Lately the functions of the unit appeared to have been compromised when it was used for other purposes for which it was (not) intended," the statement said. "When its leader came under heavy suspicion by the (military) and its members showed overt signs of indiscipline, the division was disbanded by the Commissioner of Police (Colonel Jim Koroi)." The military have made no secret of wanting the unit disbanded, and just hours before the police statement, a senior army officer said the unit had no significance and should be done away with. Relations between the military and the police have long been strained and on the eve of the military coup in early December, soldiers moved into the police barracks and disarmed the elite unit. Within days of seizing power, military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama sacked then police commissioner, Australian Andrew Hughes, amid claims Mr Hughes was "arming Fijians against Fijians," and replaced him with Colonel Koroi.
The police confirmation that the tactical response unit had been disbanded came as military Land Force Commander Colonel Pita Driti told the Fijilive website that it was not appropriate for the police to have such a division. "We want them to be removed because it's not appropriate for the police to have the unit and it's just a waste of taxpayers' money," he said.