Alert for escapee

By GYNNIE KERO
POLICE and the business community in Milne Bay are on the alert after the escape from a Port Moresby hospital of “notorious criminal” Tommy Baker Maeva, pictured, last week during a medical check-up.
Acting provincial police commander Chief Inspector George Bayagau told The National in Alotau on Saturday that Maeva had been linked to armed robberies in the province and had escaped once from police in Alotau.
“People and the business community are in fear,” he said.
“He was linked to all robberies here. He is a notorious young man. We need to have him behind bars.
“We were trying to get his three accomplices. And now he is on the run too.
“He is a threat to the community. It is disheartening when we hear this man has escaped again.”
Maeva escaped last Wednesday from the Port Moresby General Hospital while he was there with two prison guards.
It was the second time Maeva had escaped from custody. Acting Correctional Service Commissioner Stephen Pokanis yesterday confirmed that Maeva had also escaped from Giligili jail in Alotau last year.
Pokanis said an administrative investigation would be conducted into the incident.
Bayagau said Maeva, from Gulf and Milne Bay, was a threat to the business community as he was linked to a string of major armed robberies in the province and elsewhere.
He described Maeva as a “young man in his late 20s with a big network”. Bayagau said police in the province had begun an operation to arrest three of Maeva’s accomplices who had been on the run. Now they have included Maeva on the list.
“He is on the run now,” he said.