Kidnapped
By PETER MIVA
A PARTLY-disabled ex-patriate businessman and a national are being held captive in Lae with their captors demanding K10,000 for their release.
Police are working around the clock to find possible leads into the location and the identities of the captors and the fate of the two hostages.
The two were abducted last Saturday night outside the Waratahs Sports Club within the precincts of the Morobe Agricultural Showground in Lae.
The kidnapping, the first of its kind in Lae, has prompted metropolitan police commander Chief Supt Nema Mondiai to place high priority on it.
From initial reports, he said, the two men were abducted when they left the gates of the Waratahs Sports Club, by a group of armed men.
He said they commandeered the expatriate’s vehicle and drove away with the two in it.
Mr Mondiai refused to name the captives but said that the expatriate is a businessman in Lae and the Papua New Guinean national was a friend of his.
He said policemen had been instructed to place the safety of the two captives above everything else.
“They (policemen) have been ordered to follow instructions to the letter,” he said.
Police had initially treated the incident as abduction until the ransom demand was made.
Mr Mondia would not disclose how police came to know about the ransom demand.
He said the kidnapping must not cause panic among the expatriate business community in Lae.
“It can happen anywhere but all residents must be vigilant in the fight against such crime and take preventive measures,” Mr Mondiai said.
He reiterated his call for public assistance now that criminals in Lae are committing crimes in larger groups than before.
Nation Stories