30 Apr 2003

FBI flies eight American Samoans to Hawaii after early morning arrests

5:06 pm on 30 April 2003

US police have flown eight American Samoan residents to Hawaii only hours after FBI agents arrested them in the early days of today.

A spokesman for the FBI has declined to give details of the charges but our correspondent say the arrests relate to a medical insurance fraud investigation at the government-owned LBJ Medical Centre.

Sources say the indictment comes out of a US district court in Georgia but those people being flown out will be arraigned in Honolulu tomorrow.

The FBI is reported to be looking for more suspects who are outside American Samoa.