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Put end to contraband
smuggling
By PETER KORUGL
THE smuggling of contraband
products into Papua New Guinea is growing at an alarming rate and the
people must help the Government to clamp down on the illegal trade, PNG
Customs and the country’s consumer watchdog said yesterday.
PNG Customs and the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC)
said smuggling of counterfeit products would be addressed only when the
public come forward with information and help the authorities.
“Papua New Guineans are buying cheap contraband products including
medical drugs … but they are dangerous.
“We should not sacrifice our health for cheap items … a lot of these
contraband are being off-loaded in the streets and our people must wake
up and see what is happening here,” ICCC northern regional manager Ode
Diro said.
The Consumer Product Consultative Committee (CPCC) composed of
representatives from the
ICCC, Internal Revenue Commission and Investment Promotion Authority
(IPA) was formed to develop strategies to address this issue and was
doing its best.
“We are doing what we can but these people kept bringing the products
in.
“We need more men and latest technology must be installed at ports like
Madang, Wewak, Lae, Port Moresby and others to keep check on everything
that comes in,” a senior investigator with PNG Customs in Lae said.
The products that were allegedly smuggled into PNG included cigarettes,
foodstuff, motor vehicle parts, medical drugs and electronic equipment.
ICCC said the contraband were being off-loaded in the streets at very
cheap prices and the unsuspecting consumers were buying them at great
risk to their health.
“Just take the anti-malarial drugs that are being off-loaded in Lae … a
product that was being sold at the chemist for K21 was going for K6 in
the streets,” the customs official noted. “People are going for cheap
products but do they know what they are buying?”
The reactions from the ICCC and PNG Customs officials following The
National’s front page report yesterday on the contraband cigarettes
seized in Port Moresby by PNG Customs officials last Monday.
“There were more … we had exposed the import of inferior and counterfeit
toothpaste products and razors … now the cigarettes.”
“There is much more we need to do to protect our people from these cheap
but dangerous,” the PNG Customs official said.
 
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