PM wants police to arrest Baker

By REBECCA KIKAU
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill wants police to arrest notorious criminal Tommy Baker who is allegedly behind the killing of a lawyer and the burning of police quarters last week in Alotau.
“We have sent (police) reinforcements to hunt down the gang leader Tommy Baker who is one of the most notorious criminals in Alotau,” O’Neill said.
“He was captured and arrested three times, but had escaped for the third time. And this is a serious concern.”
The lawyer, who had joined the provincial administration as its legal officer only last year, was travelling with his wife to a school in Alotau in the evening when the thugs shot him. They also robbed a shop and an automated teller machine (ATM) causing chaos in the capital of Milne Bay.
O’Neill told Parliament on Friday that the situation in Milne Bay was very sad as it was known as one of the country’s most peaceful and law abiding provinces.
He plans to meet police commissioner Gari Baki this week to demand that Baker and his accomplices be arrested as soon as possible.
O’Neill is also concerned that Baker had escaped three times from the law – a reflection of the declining status of the justice, law and order systems.
“We have been funding the law and order sector, and every year we have been increasing their budgets. We have changed commissioners of the three arms of law and order.”