Fiji, Oct. 30 -- The United States says Latin American drug trafficking networks are increasingly using contacts and distributors in Pacific Island countries to move and sell illicit drugs, prompting a US$4 million initiative to improve intelligence sharing between the two regions.

U.S Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Cartwright Weiland said authorities were still assessing which criminal organisations were operating across the Pacific but had identified links between Latin American groups and networks in island countries.

"We're not seeing, for example, chapters of cartels sort of being established on these islands.

"It's more along the lines of the cartels have interlocutors, have d...