Brian Bell looted again

By PETER ESILA and ANTOINETTE POIVI
ALL looted items recovered from the civil unrest of Jan 10 in Port Moresby were, again, stolen early yesterday from the still-damaged Brian Bell yard at Gerehu Stage Six.
The PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday called for the reinstatement of the State of Emergency, with president Ian Tarutia saying “an ugly precedent has been set”.
“People have tasted mob power and using it to the detriment of business houses and the majority law-abiding city residents,” he said.
“The State of Emergency should be brought back,” Tarutia said.
Brian Bell chairman Ian Clough described yesterday’s stealing incident as the work of a “very greedy people”.
The cost of yesterday’s chaos and destruction had now levelled at more than K100 million in property and assets.
Reports said a group of men had taken advantage of an alleged lag in security during these chilly hours, broke into the warehouse premises and escaped with their loot.
When word of the incident spread across the social media, all hell broke loose.
According to Clough, “it was frustrating to see images of expensive cars coming from all over the city and loading up stolen items or families carrying off goods with their mothers and children helping them”.
“This stealing and greed wasn’t just the people in the settlements who claim to have nothing.
“This was done by wealthy people who already have more, than most who decided that they wanted even more,” he said.
Police units from throughout the city, including the mobile squad from McGregor and the troops brought in for the state of emergency, responded and dispersed the crowd.
Images and photographs splashed throughout yesterday on social media showed fridges, beds, stoves, eskies, mattresses and building materials littering the roadsides and streets as the looters fled.
Police, again, yesterday spent the best part of the day going into Tete settlement and the surrounding areas in search of “stolen re-stolen” goods.
Clough also described yesterday’s incident as a reflection of the breakdown in society and lack of respect for those already impacted by the actions of lunatics.
“It wasn’t enough that it was stolen once; these people were determined to take this back again.”
He said yesterday’s chaos not only put their security partners at risk and but further damaged the premises.
“We are about to start to demolish our Gerehu site and rebuild a brand new, more secured facility to support our business.
“This remains our focus and not the ongoing actions of these greedy, disrespectful people,” he said.
Clough said the events of Jan 10 were devastating for many businesses and highlighted the breakdown of good values in our communities.
“The hard work of police, army and other businesses to return some of these stolen goods has been appreciated.
“The volume of items returned has been significant, resulting in weeks of us having to determine what is salvageable and what isn’t.
“This, together with logistics to move the products, has resulted in delays.”
He said none of the goods were to be resold but some may have been safe to donate to worthy organisations.
“It is disappointing that while we continue to work through this mountain of product, greedier people are trying to access this site to steal back the stolen products.”
Clough said the products were damaged and unsaleable.
“We simply don’t want it back. These people who can’t stop stealing from others should be held to account for their behaviour, but this is the responsibility of police. “Again, we do not want this stolen product back.
If it is collected as evidence, it should be kept or given to more deserving people. “The Brian Bell Group remains committed to PNG and those in our community who genuinely need our support. We look forward to working with them to make PNG better,” Clough said.
National Capital District (NCD) Metropolitan Supt Silva Sika said people have been watching and monitoring security presence around the warehouse.
“The looting is from the vulnerability of police and security personnel. Our units responded and they have retrieved some items from Tete settlement back to the warehouse.”
Sika, when responding to allegations that police officers were involved in letting people to go in and loot, said: “People must come forward with vehicle plate numbers and report which police officer was (allegedly) involved in encouraging people to loot.
“We will then get hold of the vehicle and try to establish the facts, investigate and make arrests,” Sika said.