K5,000 fine in Enga for illegal liquor traders

By PHILIP KEPSON

WABAG district court has imposed a maximum penalty of K5,000 fine on an illegal liquor trader in Enga with the aim of stopping others from committing the same crime.

Acting senior magistrate Wialu Sakatao said when imposing the penalty using the Enga Provincial Liquor Act that the court would not be lenient on those who committed the same crime as most of the problem is in the province were related to illegal trading of liquor.

According to court documents, the offender, Simino Kakope from Mulitaka in the Lagaip-Porgera district, was trying to transport 54 cartons of beer and 24 cartons of rum on March 11 in a 15-seater bus when Wapenamanda police stopped him near the Enga-Western Highlands border and arrested him after he failed to produce a trading licence.

Sakatao said Kakope, who pleaded guilty, would be jailed for 12 months if he failed to pay the fine on time.

The magistrate also warned that the court would not be lenient with those who were involved in trafficking of illegal drugs such as marijuana.

Governor Peter Ipatas, who was informed of the court decision, said it was his first time to learn that someone was punished with the highest penalty for the crime since the act was certified in 2009.

He said other magistrates should do the same with those who committed such crimes as being lenient with offenders did not help anyone.

“I think that is the way the courts should deal with the offenders. 

“The laws are there to be applied fully, not by half,” he said.

Assistant liquor licensing commissioner Lukas Lale said he would work closely with police to ensure that those who were trading liquor at unlicensed premises were brought to justice.