Defence Force promises to support commission, police

National

DEFENCE Force (PNGDF) soldiers are focused and will continue to support police and the  electoral commission until the end of the elections when all the writs are returned.
PNGDF chief of security operations Col Ezekia Wenzel assured the public that PNGDF was focused and would continue to provide security until all election activities were over.
“In relevance of whatever is happening, we will continue to provide security and maintain the support to the RPNGC (police) right until the end when all the writs are returned,” he said.
The return of writs date has been extended to Friday.
Wenzel said PNGDF had reduced some of its forces in some parts of the country as the counting wound down.
“We have maintained our quick response forces, particularly up in the Highlands, West New Britain and Madang,” Wenzel said.
He said though they faced difficulties in terms of funding for the operations, they managed with what they had.
“We are very happy that we were able to manage whatever that were given to us such as troop boats, aircraft and ships to support the overall national security in this election,” Wenzel said.
“Initially we had planned for a deployment of 500 as required by the RPNGC, but the situation changed and we ended by deploying more than 1000 airman, sailors and from the land component.”
Wenzel said those who had breached some standing orders during operations had disciplinary cases against them.