Hotel owner cannot be charged due to no law: Yamasombi

A HOTEL owner arrested in connection with the discovery of drugs and guns in the hotel premises cannot be charged because there are no laws governing the production and selling of dangerous drugs, a senior police officer says.
Head of the illicit and narcotic investigation team, Assistant Commissioner of Police Donald Yamasombi, said businessman Jaime Pang, the owner of The Sanctuary Hotel in Port Moresby, would not be charged.
The Government is yet to finalise the Controlled Substance Bill for endorsement by the National Executive Council before it is tabled in Parliament.
Police Commissioner David Manning said strict laws were required because PNG was becoming a “safe house” for traffickers of dangerous drugs.
Police Minister William Onglo and Justice Minister Bryan Kramer agreed that there were no laws to prosecute those involved in producing and selling dangerous drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine.
Onglo said work on amending the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 was being worked on.
Kramer said PNG did not have a law to prosecute those involved in the production and sale of dangerous drugs such as methamphetamine, ice and cocaine.
“The current legislative framework is not adequate in prosecuting these matters although the evidence is there,” he said.
“We need to enact the Controlled Substance Bill.
“The Department of Justice and Attorney-General is completing their comments on the bill to submit to the first legislative counsel for the issue of the certificate of compliance.
“If the certificate of compliance is issued this week, the Government can enact the law as soon as possible in this or the next sitting of Parliament.”