By ELIZABETH MIAE
FOREIGN Affairs and Immigration officials will still pursue the dismissed case of the two Asians who attempted to smuggle 20 passports across the border last June.
Acting Secretary Gabriel Pepson told The National that although the court had dismissed the Asians’ case, department officials were working closely with customs and police officers in Vanimo to file an appeal.
He said they respected the court’s decision but strongly believed that the two had “broken our laws”, and the matter was not over yet as far as the Immigration Act was concerned.
Attempts to speak to police prosecutors in Vanimo were unsuccessful due to communication problems.
The Vanimo district court dismissed the case on Aug 16 due to insufficient evidence and ordered for their release, including their passports.
The 20 passports confiscated by police were ordered to be returned to their owners.
Ching Loon Chan, a Malaysian, and an Indonesian, Paidi Arendi, were arrested and charged with attempting to bribe customs officers at the border and aid other foreign workers to live illegally in the country.
DFI has already had contact with the Nigerian High Commission in Canberra, Australia, in regards to the three Nigerians who had illegally entered the country last June.
Officials at the high commission are trying to establish whether the three are Nigerian citizens.

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