Jailed for illegal entry

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
SIX men from Manus pretending to have drifted into Papua Province of Indonesia have been jailed four-and-a-half months each there for illegal entry, PNG consul-general Geoffrey Wiri says.
The District Court in Jayapura sentenced Leo Leon, Samuel Nani, Peter Londron, Douglas Londron, John Pilpn and Joni Bob, all from the PNKA local level government area, for the offence in December.
“Each of them has been sentenced to four months and 15 days imprisonment after the court found them guilty,” Wiri said.
He said they were caught by Jayapura Water Police at Hamadi market buying fire crackers on Dec 17 and detained at the police station.
“They appeared (in court) last Tuesday.”
Wiri said he did appeal for the Jayapura-based border agencies to release them. One of the jailed is Akib High School deputy principal Peter London and he needs to return to Manus to teach when school resumes.
“They entered Indonesia without proper documents and the reason they gave was not genuine. They had told Water Police officers during interrogation that their engine had developed mechanical problems when fishing in Manus waters and drifted into Indonesian waters. But then the Police had followed them into Hamadi market.