Robbers walk away with K19,000

By PETER MIVA
A MOTEL in Lae lost nearly K20,000 to armed robbers.
The Lae Travellers Inn, at Top-Town, lost K5,000 in cash and K14,000 in cheques when armed men held up the manager and stole the money just outside the gates last Monday.
Metropolitan commander chief Supt Nema Mondiai said yesterday a group of masked men had waited outside.
At about 10am, the manager and a guest drove out and were accosted by the armed men who threatened them with a gun and escaped in the company bus.
The bus was later recovered more than 3km away at the Cassowary Road, next to the Bumbu River.
In another incident last Monday, a man was shot in the stomach and was admitted to the Angau General Hospital for treatment from pellet wounds.
Supt Mondiai said the victim, from Yambu village, Wabag, Enga province, was among a group playing cards when two security trucks loaded with men approached them at the former Lae bottling industries depot near the old airport at around 1am.
He said the men jumped out of the trucks and fired two shots in their direction and hit the victim.
He said police did not know the motives but knew the identity of the suspect and expect to arrest him soon.
A man was also tied up and robbed by unknown men at Bumayong last Monday.
He said the victim was tricked by a woman, who told him to drive her in his PMV bus to China Town to pick up her bags.
He said when they arrived at China Town, some men held him up and drove him on the Busu Road towards Bumayong, tied him up there and left .
Police recovered the bus and rescued the victim at noon.
He said the robbers did not steal anything from him and left him unhurt.
Police are investigating the incidents.