Internal affairs officers probing police shootout

OFFICERS from the Internal Affairs Unit are in Popondetta, Northern, investigating a shootout at Karisou village, Safia local level government (LLG) in the province’s south coast two weeks ago.
The shootout occurred between officers from the Northern provincial command and a senior mobile squad officer with the rank of sergeant and three other men, a soldier, a police officer and a Correctional Services officer.
A local man from Foru village, Tufi LLG, was killed in the shootout while the senior officer was severely injured and airlifted to Lae, Morobe, a day after the incident.
Acting Internal Affairs Directorate director Emil Alpha confirmed that a four-member team arrived in the province on Saturday and were putting together their documents to commence investigations.
“There is also another team from the Southern Command who arrived last week prior to our team landing in the province, however, we are there as it is a police shooting involving our officers, we will look at all aspects of the case and determine the cause,” he said.
Alpha added that the team would be in the province for as long as it took to complete the investigation.
The senior police officer was allegedly shot by fellow officers after he opened fire on a police taskforce team in the province last week.