AN ALLEGED plot to form a breakaway Christian state in Fiji is being investigated.

Authorities on the archipelago are exploring claims that a veteran of the British army has been overseeing secret military training, it was reported last week.

It is suspected that a movement has been agitating to declare the Ra province a Christian state. The Fiji Sun reported that “a former British Army soldier” had begun military-style training about three months ago.

On Tuesday, Radio New Zealand International reported that 65 people had appeared in court in the past six weeks charged with sedition.

Jenny Hayward-Jones, of the Lowy Institute, Sydney, told The Daily Telegraph last week that calls for a Christian state indicated that the group were indigenous Fijians who rejected the plans of the current Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, for a “unified nation”.

Mr Bainimarama, who seized power in a coup in 2006, has said that “any insurrection will be crushed.”