‘Fake’ beer case thrown out

THE Waigani District Court has acquitted two Chinese nationals accused of having in their possession 58 cartons of smuggled beer because of insufficient evidence.
Magistrate Comas Bidar said it was important to establish the element of smuggling in such a case.
Bidar said although police had submitted as evidence the results of a test carried out by a quality control officer at the South Pacific (SP) Brewery that the beer was not produced by SP brewery, they did not explain where the beer originated from.
“Evidence have not shown whether the alleged fake SP beer green cans came from another country or whether it was produced elsewhere in the country,” he said.
Bidar said the evidence was insufficient to convict Wang Yan Bing, 57, and Wang Yuan Yan, 40, both from Futian in China.
A lawyer representing them submitted that the case be dismissed and their bail money of K1,000 each be refunded.
The duo were charged with the possession of smuggled counterfeit goods.
Police alleged that on Dec 18 last year at 10.30am, Yan brought 58 cartons of the beer to Bing’s house at 7-Mile’s Kennedy Estate in Port Moresby.
The court heard that Bing allegedly began selling the beer at K50 a carton.
Police were tipped off and caught a buyer with eight cartons to resell at Sogeri. The buyer led police to Bing.