Cash seized

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Chris Kunyanban

By JIMMY KALEBE
POLICE intercepted and confiscated almost K200,000 in K2 and K5 notes hidden in a container on a ship which arrived at the Lae wharf on Friday.
The cash packed into three boxes inside the container full of bottles of water was sent as a consignment to a company in Wewak, East Sepik, according to Lae Met Supt Chief Insp Chris Kunyanban.
He said Lae police were tipped off by their counterparts in Port Moresby where the ship had sailed from.
There were 37,503 K2 notes totalling K75,006, and 24,601 K5 notes totalling K123, 005.
Kunyanban said after receiving the tip-off from Port Moresby, police secured a search warrant from the district court in Lae and alerted the shipping company.
National crime investigation unit officers in Lae identified the container when the ship arrived.
“About 90 percent of the container contained water products consigned to a company in Wewak,” Kunyanban said.
The officers then found the three boxes tightly packed with cash which were placed at the back of the container.
He suspected that it was the work of syndicates involving locals and foreigners.
“Currently, Papua New Guinea is facing a mounting problem with different syndicates brewing which involve locals and foreigners,” he said.
He said money laundering was becoming a problem.
The cash will be kept at the Bank of Papua New Guinea in Lae.
“Police will work with the Bank of PNG to establish which law has been breached and further investigations will be carried out,” he said.
He warned businesses to be mindful of the way they run their operations.
“Especially when shifting huge amount of money from one place to another, be mindful that
shifting large amount of cash in such a manner is not advisable,” he said.

13 comments

  • The investigation is incomplete. The reporter did not disclose who were behind this, whether locals or foreigners. The country is confused who the owner is.

  • Can PNG be beneficiary as to the sender and recipient of the cash consignment? Let the corrupt be exposed and public condemnation accorded in the strongest terms possible.

  • I dont think there is anything sinister here. Only if such were consigned for overseas. Poor reporting with some facts missing to put things into context.

  • I’m its South East Aaians doing it pay some PNG locals in Law.

    Its the Asians, they are the only kind who will do this sort of thing.

    Its about time PNG starts removing South East Asians. They are the ones who are very good at money laundering.

    Kevin, concerned citize
    Alotau, MBP

  • How is that illegal? Sure there may be reasonable suspicion for transferring a large amount like this…. but how is that illegal?

  • Congrats police for fast action. If law is broken by moving large sum of money, deal with it otherwise return money to the owner/s.

  • See ah, one strange thing about Asians they never do banking, most of them. my suggestion is that, this money must have been transported there for business purposes. For the sake of security reasons, it must have been transported with other water products.

    But otherwise lets hope the money isn’t counterfeit..

    All the best in your investigations… Officers

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