Sunset Merona ends operation

By ANGELINE KARIUS
Operation Sunset Merona (OSM) ends its six-week operation in West Sepik this week.
The K3.5 million ope­ration was sanctioned by the government to address illegal activities such as weapons trade, drug smuggling and others.
The West Sepik provincial administration through its national security advisory committee had requested the national government to intervene and reestablish authority and confidence in
the province.
Present at the occasion were chief of operations and deputy police commissioner Fred Yakasa, PNGDF and task force commander Col Vagi Oala, combined task force commander Jerry Frank, acting West Sepik police station commander Tobby Hamago and acting director general office of secretary coordination and assessment Ian Jinga. 
According to Yakasa, the main objective of the OSM was to search, locate and destroy illegal freedom fighter camps in the province.
He said the mission was aimed at arresting and processing those who were linked to the Operasi Papuan Merdeka (OPM) rebels.
“With that, the final outcome of the OSM was to safely airlift everyone to East Awin refugee camp in Kiunga, Wes­tern,” he said. 
Yakasa told The National that this objective had been achieved within the timeframe of six weeks. 
He also said that other serious concerns of illegal workers in logging camps, drugs trade and weapons smuggling among others, had to be looked into.
Meanwhile, Frank said that illegal activities such as drug smuggling, weapons trade and illegal border crossers had ceased especially along the land and marine borders.
He said that monitoring of such activities would continued as the constabulary scaled down its operations.