Police confiscate beer hidden under truck’s sand pile

 By JAMES APA GUMUNO

MT Hagen police have confiscated 200 cartons of beer in a truck on its way to Ialibu, Southern Highlands.

Police acting on a tip-off stopped the truck in Mt Hagen city on Sunday and arrested the driver, crew and three other passengers.

The beer is worth K48,000 on the black market in Ialibu. A bottle of SP is sold for K10 in Ialibu, twice the price in Mt Hagen’s liquor outlets.

The 200 cartons were hidden in the back of the truck beneath a green canvas and covered with sand.

Police said the truck driver Jim Gorowa from Ialibu told them that all he knew was that the truck belonged to a Simon Pani of Ialibu.

He said he did not know who the beer was for.

Gorowa said he was approached to travel to Mt Hagen and pick up some cargo. 

His two passengers directed him to Kalakai where they loaded the beer.

“I don’t know how many cartons,” he said.

He said the two men then told him to drive to the Komun crusher where three buckets of sand was poured over the top.

Provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari said a liquor ban in Southern Highlands had been in force for the past three years.

He said police in Southern Highlands were working closely with Mt Hagen officers to stop the smuggling of alcohol.

Meanwhile, he said the owner of the tipper truck would be arrested and questioned by police.

“The owner called me and said he will come and see me on Sunday, but he never turned up,” he said.

Lakari said the five men involving in the smuggling of liquor were charged with transporting alcohol.