PNG: Police crack down on drugs for guns racket
Updated
Papua New Guinea police have arrested 9 people including four women allegedly involved in a ''drugs for guns'' racket in PNG's Western province. Its believed the illicit trade is sourced from Australia and Indonesia.
Presenter: Firmin Nanol
Speakers: John Kerry, Western Province Police Chief.
NANOL: PNG's Western Province is in no-man's land. It is 45 minutes by plane and three hours by boat to Australia, while a few kilometres of walk from the Indonesian province of Papua. PNG police say drug dealers in the Western Province are operating a drug syndicate involving Australian and Indonesian buyers.
Western province police Chief, Inspector John Kerry, says PNG drug dealers posing as traditional border crossers take drugs to Australia via the Torres Strait.
He says nine people, including four women were arrested for being in possession of a sizeable amount of drugs ready for a ''drugs for guns trade'', which could fetch up to 20 000 US dollars in the black markets.
KERRY: It's a free flow of guns into PNG, so they bring drugs down, they get guns into PNG.
and coming into Daru in the Highlands, so they come from every different corners, not only just one, they come in different directions, different means. The only thing we can do is every effort of our government agencies has to be concentrated in Daru. If we are thinking of at least minimising the flow of guns into PNG and restrain our people.
NANOL: Inspector John Kerry claims most of the drugs are shipped to either Australia and or Indonesia.
He says drug dealers in turn give guns to P-N-G Highlanders who use them in tribal fights that claim hundreds of lives and cause destruction to property worth thousands of dollars.
KERRY: Daru is just like 45 minutes by plane to Australia and by dinkage, like three or four hours, so anyone just go into the Torres Straits Islands using these traditional border crossing passes. So anyone just goes there, what they do, how they do down there it's depending on individual sellers that go down there.
NANOL: P-N-G police are working hard enough to crack down on possible international drug routes.
But Western province Police Chief John Kerry says the PNG government including quarantine officials need to police the PNG-Australia border to stop the drugs for guns trade.
KERRY: The concern I have is for other agencies like quarantine, customs, fisheries, health. For example when you look at the dinghies from Australia, Torres Strait Islands they come into Daru. The customs or quarantine they don't go and check right there at the wharf, they just wait until these people come onboard, and then I don't know, I don't know how it's done, it's really bad. What if they bring animals or sickness or guns, so police can only do so much. We're not trained to do everything. Our speciality is protection of life and property and making sure that illegal things don't come into PNG through Daru.
NANOL: Six of the nine people arrested have been transferred to Port Moresby and will appear in court later this week.
Firmin Nanol-Port Moresby.
