Man jailed for smuggling motorcycle across Indonesian border

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE Vanimo District Court in West Sepik has jailed a man for 18 months for smuggling an Indonesian-made motorcycle across the Indonesian-PNG border , senior Magistrate Sasa Inkung said.
“Robert Aleo ,30, from Ossol village in Bewani is in Vanimo jail for not paying import duty of K5000. He rode the Indonesian-made motorcycle along Bewani without an import permit and was charged under the PNG Customs Act”.
Inkung said the court sentenced Aleo last week.
Meanwhile, provincial police commander Chief Inspector Moses Ibsagi said they arrested two men from East Sepik and one from Indonesia for allegedly attempting to smuggle 10kg of drugs across the border.
“They were in a dinghy en route to West Papua in Indonesia when we intercepted them just offshore from Vanimo,” Ibsagi said.
“When they saw us approaching them in another boat, they quickly threw a large package into the sea.
“But we quickly came alongside them and discovered two packages containing compressed cannabis. We then sought assistance from locals to dive and retrieve the package containing dried, compressed cannabis.”
Ibsagi said the suspects were in police custody in Vanimo.