Fugitives

By MARJORIE FINKEO
SEVENTEEN days after the year’s first mass prison breakout in Papua New Guinea on Jan 19, none of the 16 fugitives have been sighted in a joint police-prison warden manhunt.
Police believe most of the hardcore convicted criminals on the run had either fled Lae or are constantly on the move, changing their hideouts while being harboured by relatives and villagers.
Lae Met Supt Chief Insp Chris Kunyanban said police believed four or five fugitives were still hiding in the province while the rest had fled elsewhere.
He appealed to the public to cooperate and work closely with the police to recapture the fugitives who were dangerous convicted criminal who had committed murders, rapes and armed robberies.
“Stop harbouring them for the safety of everyone, including yourselves,” he said, adding that despite the more than two weeks of manhunt, none of the fugitives had been sighted.
“This cannot be the case.
“They must have been seen somewhere by someone. Stop harbouring criminals,” he added. In releasing information and photographs of 11 fugitives who broke out of Buimo between 2017 and Jan 19, Chief Insp Kunyanban said: “The fugitives are
considered very dangerous men.
“We are now appealing to Lae residents to contact the police immediately if you sight any of them.”
On Jan 19, a prison warden and an escapee died in the Buimo Prison breakout that saw 16 convicted prisoners fleeing into the jungle.
The escapee, shot dead by prison wardens, was convicted killer David Naya, 25, who had escaped from custody twice but died in his third attempt to flee.
Naya a.k.a ‘Flethet’ was serving 35 years jail with hard labour for the murder of Angau Memorial Hospital paediatrician Dr Alphonse Rongap Sr who was attacked by a group of bush knife-wielding men and shot dead at close range in Lae on June 25, 2016.
Meanwhile, the Correctional Service (CS) care-taker executive officer Chief Insp Richard Mandui confirmed that CS Comm Stephen Pokanis and Acting Deputy Comm (Corporate Affairs) Michael Morisi flew into Lae a day after the breakout and met up with CS personnel and relatives of CS probationary warden Luke Makintas Konga, 29, who was killed during the breakout.
The Correctional Service is meeting all costs relating to the repatriation of the remains of Konga to his home in Aviamp, in Anglimp-South Waghi, Jiwaka.
Mandui said a relieving contingent of 10 personnel selected from the Bomana Correctional Institute (CI), CS training college and CS headquarters also accompanied Pokanis to Lae to provide support and maintain security at the Buimo CS facility.
“Currently there is an indefinite ban on all weekend visits for relatives of detainees and inmates until the situation returns to normal,” he stressed.
Mandui said an independent police investigation was being carried out and a post mortem would also be
conducted to determine the actual cause of death of Konga.
Pokanis told The National that he was expecting a brief on the investigation conducted by officers at the CS headquarters in Port Moresby.