Lae police seize explosives

National

By NICHOLAS SIREO
POLICE seized a large quantity of explosives from the premises of a road construction company in Lae on Monday.
According to police reports, the explosives were bought from Orica explosives and were to be used for road construction purposes at Gumine in Chimbu and Okapa in Eastern Highlands but the company had ceased operation and the explosives were taken to Lae to be locked away.
Lae Metropolitan Superintendant Anthony Wagambie Jr, said the explosives were kept in an unsecured area.
Wagambie said the explosives were stacked in a 20-foot container but it was broken into and an undisclosed amount was stolen.
In January, police received a tip-off that some of the explosives were being moved, and officers intercepted them and locked them away at the Igam Barracks armoury .
Later last month, an escapee was arrested, and police searched his family home at Nawae Block and confiscated a carton of detonators.
Further investigations led to the discovery of the large quantity of explosives from the construction company’s yard.
Wagambie said the construction company  failed to notify authorities that they had kept such an amount of explosives
“Orica said the explosives should have been returned to them for safe-keeping but that never happened,” the metropolitan superintendant said
The construction company had no records of how many explosives were used during their work.
Wagambie commended his intelligence officers for doing a wonderful job of tracking down the explosives.