Border security needs boost

POLICE want the remote areas on the Papua New Guinea side of the border with Indonesia effectively controlled and managed by the security forces.
Western provincial police commander Silva Sika said illegal activities were rife along the border areas.
“Our border areas are open and are not fully secured by the security forces,” he said.
He said illegal activities such as human trafficking, smuggling of guns and ammunition, poaching of animals, smuggling of drugs, and trading of live plants and animals were occurring along the border areas.
He said the border post areas in Weam, Bensbach, Morehead, Ningerum, Kiunga and Baramuk needed national government security forces to maintain national security.
“Our national security and sovereignty is at risk with Indonesians illegally coming into our territory,” he said.
Sika added that the security of the country’s kina needed to be guarded in the border areas.
“Our kina is fading as people are using the Indonesian rupiah in their daily lives and there’s no proper control in our border areas,” he said.
However, Sika did welcome the government’s latest move to beef up security and government’s presence in the border areas.