Official donates drone to police

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
A MARINE engineer and his wife were ordered by pirates to jump into the sea and swim ashore to safety to Kanakope, Milne Bay, last June 26.
That terrifying experience prompted Ok Tedi Mining’s Kenneth Imurodi to declare war on piracy.
Yesterday, Imurodi donated a drone to Milne Bay police to help monitor and combat piracy.
“I am donating this drone because I know the feeling of being helpless when being held up at sea and I don’t want anyone to go through similar situations which can result in death,” he said in the office of Milne Bay commander Supt Peter Barkie.
Supt Barkie said he was delighted that a professional from the province was using his own funds to buy the drone for the police.
“The use of drones will increase police operational capability in terms of surveillance and providing visibilities,” he said, urging other professionals to support the police.
“Our operations against sea pirates will now be widened because we can monitor boat movements more effectively.
“People have to do their part.
“Don’t just depend on the Government to address law and order in the province.”
Recalling that dreadful incident, Imurodi said he was heading to Samarai-Murua’s Sariba Island when eight masked and armed pirates in a 19-foot 40-horse-powered dinghy chased his boat at the dreaded Kanakope Passage.
“All pirates looked like teenagers except for the dinghy operator, and they knew the waters well,” he said. “He (operator) knew where the sand banks and the reefs were and the tide.
“He was able to speed through the waves which were a bit rough and that’s how they managed to run us down.”
Imurodi works on dredging vessels in the lower Ok Tedi River.
He was on his way to see his family in the village after the Covid-19-induced lockdown at the mine site when he and his wife had the bad luck encounter with the pirates.
Imurodi said his wife met him in Alotau that Friday morning and they left for Sariba at 2pm after buying supplies and loading a dinghy and left town with another dinghy headed for the same destination.
The couple and six other passengers were in one boat while the others also had passengers.