Dicing with the law

Weekender

By JUNIOR UKAHA
THE place is deserted. Smoke is rising from the remnants of burnt down shelters, tables and stools that once graced this seaside buai market.
About a dozen agitated policemen armed with machine guns are walking around. Belying the ominous situation at hand, the backdrop of blue mountains rise in the distance and the calm turquoise sea is a picture of serenity.
A sense of fear, insecurity and uncertainty grips the air. Anything can happen to anyone in times and situations like this. Not a single civilian was in sight aside from the uniformed policemen combing the area.
None of the industrious mothers from the nearby settlement turned up with their usual wares this morning for selling. They obviously had been made aware of what had transpired the previous evening.
The ever-busy Voco Point betelnut market and main stop for small sea crafts is closed.
A young policeman, slim, possibly a new recruit, is shouting to no-one in particular on an approaching dinghy to go and drop off passengers elsewhere.
“Go of lod lo narapla hap (Go and off-load elsewhere),” the officer shouted.
The scorching heat of the morning sun from the eastern skies is causing sweat to run profusely from the young officer’s face. He looks tense and highly unhappy.
His right hand grips an M16 assault rifle while he uses his left to signal the dinghy skipper away.
The boat crew, apparently sensing that something was up, quickly maneuvered away without question.
The passengers in the dinghy,about five of them, seemed equally dumbfounded and probably wondered in their minds why they couldn’t land there. Something was not right because the usually busy stop was devoid of banana boats, and humans.
The reason for the closure of the place, and such heavy police presence, this week is because of an incident last Saturday night when the Voco Point Police Post, was set alight. The place was thoroughly gutted.
The act of arson, as I’ve been told through the grapevine, and which is now a subject of police investigation, was allegedly conducted by youths from a nearby settlement.
Important police files, equipment and furniture turned to ash.
The act of arson on police property, naturally, angered police. They reacted by storming the picnic area at dawn, setting fire to makeshift shelters and tables that vendors used to trade betelnut while the sellers were still at home, waking up from sleep.
Police blame settlers in the area who have been known to threaten and rob and even assault members of the public who are frequent the Voco Point and Hilma Wong Park.
The police post houses the Lae Police Dog Unit section. The sad fact about this whole situation is that the police post was not built using government funding but was a gift to police from long time Lae businessman Wong Tim and his family.
He had deemed the safety of businesses operating in the area to be crucial so paid out of his own pocket to have the police post built.
Lae Metropolitan Superintendent Anthony Wagambie Jr described the burning pof the building as the work of arsonists and added that police will not take this outright provocation lying down.
“This has charged us up and we will work even harder to rid the area of criminal elements. We will be going straight into the settlements at any time, day, night or rain, we will be moving in and out,” he said.
It was now around 10am on Sunday, the day after arsonists set the building alight, police reinforcements arrived in a convoy of vehicles; mostly unmarked troop carriers at Voco Point. Donned in camouflage gear and armed, they wasted no time in raiding the settlement where the suspects were believed to be hiding.
To get a closer glimpse of what was happening, the driver and I drove up Seagull Street to the junction leading into Geks Compound—the settlement where the policemen had just entered. We could see black smoke rising into the air. Mothers with babies in hand and other children beside them were scurrying here and there for safety.
Young men who moments ago had fled their homes now stood some distance away and watched their homes going up in flames. Many people didn’t have time to save any of their belongings.
Others, who had left home in the morning, returned too late to save any of their properties.
It is understood that police had earlier asked for the community to bring forward the suspects in the burning down of the police post but nothing was done resulting in police deciding to raid the settlement.
Over the years, police operations have targeted Geks compound and the nearby Bumbu settlement which are within the precincts of Voco Point. The latest onslaught at Geks compound has been the most aggressive yet.
Voco Point Police Post is the third police establishment in Lae to go up in flames. Two others at Bumayong and West Taraka were also burnt to the ground, also the work of arsonists.
Authorities have apprehended suspects in relation to the two previous incidents. Police posts, unlike police stations, open only during the day and are closed at nights.