Men held for avoiding quarantine

TWO men returning home from across the Indonesian border after spending six months, were arrested by Daru police when they attempted to avoid going into quarantine, South Fly police commander Snr Insp Ewai Segi says.
Snr Insp Segi said the pair had returned to their village at Kiriwo after staying in Merauke city.
They were detained by community police officers on arrival in their village.
However, they attempted to fight and escape to the neighbouring Meru village.
The local officials then called in Daru police personnel who went to the village in a helicopter and arrested the pair.
The men were transported to Daru by helicopter and are now under the required 14-day quarantine at the police station.
Snr Insp Segi said yesterday that remote villagers along the PNG-Indonesian border were enforcing the Covid-19 state of emergency protocols and were prepared to have their own people who returned from Papua province, Indonesia, over to local police to undergo quarantine.
“The two villagers crossed into Indonesia in January, and couldn’t return after the border was closed due to the state of emergency,” he said.
“Last week, they returned and got cleared at the Indonesian border post at Sota by Indonesian health officers to reenter PNG.
“However, they attempted to fight with community police officers at Kiriwo village when asked to go into isolation in the bush near their village and Daru police were deployed to help the community officers take the two in.”