CONCERNS have been raised on a group of suspicious Australians who have been living in Ilahita village in Maprik, East Sepik province, since last year.
According to Ilahita villagers, who want to remain anonymous said these foreigners claimed to be qualified doctors and have built a big building in the village to carry out their activities, which they say was a project funded by a Rotary Club in Australia.
The villagers also claim that illegal substances and equipment have been smuggled into the country without proper customs check and bank transactions involving thousands of kina have been made into a village man’s bank account allegedly used by the Australians.
The concerned villagers also claimed illegal drugs were being traded with the village youths. He said this could get out of hand.
“Drugs such as marijuana were being traded by these white men with our young people in the village,” he said.
“These people (Australians) have built a big house and have been living in the village for a long time now,” a villager elder said in Tok Pisin.
“He also claimed that the Australians have taken photographs of sacred sites and rituals including that of inside the traditional haus tambaran (spirit house only reserved for men) and are allegedly selling them to Australia and other overseas countries.
The group of Australians believed to be from Melbourne, arrived in Ilahita village allegedly on tourist and business visas, during the 2007 national elections campaign period and have since settled there.
The Australians are believed to be close associates of a candidate who contested the 2007 national general elections.
Maprik MP and Minister for Commerce and Industry Gabriel Kapris upon receiving reports of these activities, has urged the police commissioner to instruct police in East Sepik to investigate the matter and to use the full force of the laws of Papua New Guinea.
“As Member for Maprik, I am concerned about these allegations. Maprik is not a dumping ground for any illegal activities conducted by foreigners who use the ignorance of the people.
“We do not know the intentions of these sort of people but they could be spies exposing the country to the world.
“I call on the police and government agencies concerned to investigate these allegations and report to the authorities,” Mr Kapris said.
Maprik police have confirmed that the Australians are living in Ilahita but they said they needed fuel for their vehicles to go to the village to investigate.