Suspect dies in crash                                     
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
A SUSPECT was killed after the vehicle he and four others allegedly used to rob a Big Rooster outlet in Port Moresby overturned at high speed in Gerehu on Monday.
Police said the five suspects were escaping after robbing the Big Rooster at Rainbow of about K800 when the accident happened.
The deceased and his gang used two pistols to hold up staff at the outlet at about 4.30pm, police said.
Coincidently, two armed police officers in civilian clothes in an unmarked police car were also at the outlet buying something to eat.
When the alarm was triggered, the policemen learnt of the robbery and gave chase to the escaping vehicle.
Police said the driver of the vehicle appeared to have been nervous and when he swerved to make a turn at high speed, the vehicle rolled over about five times before it came to a halt.
One of the thugs was thrown out of the vehicle onto the bitumen, where he cracked his head.
The other suspects escaped and are still at large.
Police said that about K600 was recovered and handed back to the company.

Police impound PMVs
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
NINE unregistered and defective PMVs have been impounded yesterday at the Waigani police station and their drivers have been charged for driving them in Port Moresby.
Waigani police station commander Insp Sengi Laki said that some of the drivers had also been charged for driving them without licences.
“We are also calling the owners to come to us with legal documents so that they can reclaim the PMVs.”
Insp Laki said they would continue to impound such PMVs as they were hazardous.
“Such defective PMVs can cause serious injuries and death during accidents and no third party motor vehicle insurance can be claimed by victims of accidents caused by these PMVs as they are unregistered.”
The PMVs were impounded from roadblocks set up in the Waigani sector.

Villagers fear going to gardens go hungry                                   
By ROMULUS MASIU
VILLAGERS in the troubled Konnou constituency, south Bougainville, are going hungry, authorities reported yesterday.
Reports reaching The National say that those affected were villagers from the Oria, Paghui, and Patagu villages numbering more than 8,000 who could not go to their gardens to get food for fear of being attacked by armed Me’ekamui faction operating around the area.
A policeman based at Oria village said most of the villagers’ gardens or blocks were located along the Buin/Arawa Highway towards the coast of Buin, where the armed faction was moving around.
“The villagers go to their gardens only when they are escorted by the armed Wisai Liberation Front (WLF) members,” the policeman, who requested anonymity, said.
Others had their gardens destroyed when their food crops were uprooted and burnt.
He said last Sunday, villagers, especially the mothers, had returned home empty-handed as they could not harvest anything because all the food crops in their gardens were uprooted or destroyed.
The dispute in the Konnou area between the WLF and Me’ekamui faction has been going on for some time now and has affected mothers and children.

Retail manager sacked over theft                                                                
A RETAIL manager employed by Post PNG at the Namatanai post office in New Ireland has been charged with stealing and sacked.
It was alleged that Gerard Zongi, 34, of Namatanai village, stole over K3,000 between Aug 28 and Sept 23, 2006.
Mr Zongi appeared before the Namatanai District Court for mention and is out on bail.
In other police reports from New Ireland, three youths have been arrested by Kavieng police after they held up the headmaster of the Rawal Primary School and made off with goods and cash worth K1,015.
Police said the youths went to Michael Siago’s residence last Thursday, held him up at knife point and stole a 330 watt stereo set, two speakers and K15 in cash.
His daughter, who was present, was threatened, but not harmed.
Three suspects were arrested in relation to this incident after police raided the Rawal settlement in Kavieng town.
It is believed the trio were under the influence of drugs and alcohol when they made the robbery at Mr Siago’s residence.

Project aims to improve people’s health                                                                
By ZACHERY PER
GOROKA-BASED appropriate technology (AT) project aims to improve people’s health by teaching them to build convenient and affordable round toilet seats.
Three AT project officers are in Asariufa village outsie Goroka, Eastern Highlands, this week to teach young men to build the round toilet seats.
They are being taught to build concrete slabs using fibre glass frames, dig toilet pits and build toilets.
Project architect Shirlee Dindillo yesterday said due to the lack of manpower to meet increasing demands from schools and communities, they decided to train interested men to help build the toilets.
“We are starting in Asariufa and would extend to any interested community or agencies both in and out of EHP,” Ms Dindillo said.
She said under a 12-year contract with Oxfarm New Zealand, they would cover 250 schools in eight districts in the province.
She said the materials used were cheap and could be afforded by any village or community.

Illegal miner arrested                                                                 
POLICE in Bulolo have arrested and charged a man entering Hidden Valley gold project’s construction area.
The man was caught conducting illegal mining police said yesterday.
He was in police custody and would appear in court later this week, police said.
Kuima security managing director Anton Kaupa said it was illegal to mine inside the mining area.
He said his men were policing the area and had previously caught people who said they were travellers.
Mr Kaupa warned the people not to trek through the mine as they would be prosecuted.
He said he would like to see the smooth construction of work completed without any disturbance.

Duo to appear in court                                                                
Two suspects will appear separately today at the Boroko district court in Port Moresby for having in their possession a home made gun, a pump action gun and three ammunitions.
Waigani police station commander Insp Sengi Laki said yesterday that an employee of a security firm had been charged with having in his possession an unlicensed pump action firearm with three live ammunition.
“We apprehended the suspect at a road block. The other suspect was caught at Gordon after we become suspicious of his bag during a normal patrol,” he said.
The suspect was searched and a home made gun was confiscated, police said.

‘Police should maintain strict ethical discipline’                                                              
By ZACHERY PER
Eastern Highlands provincial police commander Supt Teddy Tei told his men that he expected a high standard of ethical discipline.
He told them at a parade that there were some significant improvements in their performance last month and repeated his zero tolerance for sorcery related violence and deaths.
He said the Eastern Highlands province was known widely as the only peaceful province in the Highlands region.
However, the issue of sorcery related killings was seen as a chronic disease in the province.
Supt Tei and his men would be out in full force to provide security for Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, who visits Goroka on Friday.

Bank warns of fast money scams                                                                 
FAST money scams are still rife in parts of PNG including East New Britain because of people’s ignorance to warning given by the Central Bank.
Bank of Papua New Guinea Governor Wilson Kamit said despite many notices warning the public about the scam, people were still duped in placing their money into those fast money schemes.
He said by now people should be aware that Bank of PNG did not conduct transactions or deal with individuals.
It does not issue guarantees or warrantees to individuals, companies, financial institutions and even the Government.
Anybody taking deposits from the public is doing an illegal activity as it is not licensed by the Bank of PNG and the bank is not responsible for returning your deposits from such money schemes.
Mr Kamit is also calling on societies like East New Britain Savings and Loan scheme to warn people about the scam.

Curbing the spread of AIDS
HIV/AIDS messages implemented through entertainment is one effective way of curbing the spread of the disease in a culturally diverse environment in PNG. Comedian Perry Rime, coordinator of the Eastern Highlands provincial and HIV/AIDS theatre group made the comment during a two-week HIV/AIDS training workshop held at the Lutheran guest house in north Goroka last week. Mr Rime said to dramatise situations, where people are prone to contracting HIV/AIDS, was a way of breaking down the cultural barrier where discussing sex related issues was a taboo.

OTML donates K125,000 to TI
OK Tedi Mine Ltd donated K125,000 to Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) as support for its work in the country. OTML is one of PNG’s largest business contributors and the donation was its second large contribution by a mining company towards TIPNG’s Siaguru Endowment Fund (SEF). The SEF was established in memory of late Sir Anthony Siaguru who championed the fight against corruption. OTML managing director Alan Breen said the company was pleased to support the ongoing operations of TI in its fight against corruption.

CIC on strategic planning
SENIOR managers and sectional heads of the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) recently undertook an induction programme on strategic planning process. The programm, from Feb 11 to14, was aimed at strengthening the skills and knowledge of CIC management and senior officers on the strategic planning process, as a guide towards the development and implementation of its 2008 to 2019 strategic plan.

Man found guilty of rape
A YOUNG man found guilty of raping an 18-year-old girl at Sagalau, Madang province has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the National Court in Madang. On Feb 27, 2007, Joe Taliva and another man from Karkar Island took the victim to Abef swamp at Sagalau where they tied her hands and took turns to rape her. She was seven months pregnant at that time. Tavila, 22, from Kokopo, East New Britain, pleaded guilty to the charge and was convicted under Section 347 of the Criminal Code – crime of rape.

Writing skills for PNGDF staff
THIRTY staff members within the PNG Defence Force will receive training in report writing as part of the Australian government’s ongoing assistance to the department. The training is designed to improve writing skills needed by the department in areas of strategic policy, management services, corporate affairs, finance and audit. It is being funded by the Australian government under the bilateral Defence Co-operation Programme (DCP) with PNG.

Buka court opening highlighted
PRESIDENT of the Autonomous Bougainville Government Joseph Kabui described the opening of the Buka court house as an important milestone, a progressive development in the commitment of the Bougainville Government to alleviate lawlessness and anarchy in the community. He said the project was a reflection of partner’s commitment in support of service and infrastructural development within the law and justice sector in Bougainville.

Man accused of sexual abuse
A 41-year-old man is accused of sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl appeared before the Waigani committal court last Tuesday. It was alleged that the suspect, who is unemployed from Kikori in the Gulf province, sexually abused the victim on two different occasions between Aug 1 and Aug 26 last year at her home at Gerehu Stage 3. He was arrested and charged under section 229A of the Criminal Code – sexual penetration and section 229B – sexual touching. The matter has been adjourned to next month.

Passenger robbed by thugs
A GROUP of armed youths held up a PMV truck at the Amele section of the Trans Gogol road in the Madang province and robbed its passengers recently. Madang police commander Chief Insp Tony Wagambie Jr said the PMV truck was travelling towards Amele when some armed youths blocked the road and robbed all the passengers. Police were alerted to the scene but they only recovered a portable generator which the thugs left when they fled into the bushes. The youths were also known to the passengers and arrests are expected to be made soon.

Sanap Wantaim, new AIDS support programme
Sanap Wantaim is the new programme of support from the Australian government to contain HIV/AIDS which assisted in training up to 16,000 people last year. It replaced the Australian aid to the National AIDS council secretariat through the National HIV/AIDS support project and is in its second year of operation. Anne Malcolm, senior coordinator of the PNG Australia HIV/AIDS programme said as part of the partnership with NACS, the AusAID provides direct funding to the International Education Agency (IEA) for National HIV/AIDS Training Unit.