Police officers suspected of harbouring criminal

Acting Milne Bay police commander Inspector George Bayagau is calling on the public to provide information about police and politicians allegedly helping criminal Tommy Baker Maeva to escape.
“We are not ruling out such reports about police officers and politicians being behind Maeva’s illegal activities,” Bayagau said.
“Afterall, he has been evading the police since 2013, and has had a free will in carrying out armed robberies in the province and also in Central and Northern.
“He had escaped twice from prison. The first escape was in the province-based Giligili Prison and the latest was at the Bomana Prison in Port Moresby. We are not ruling out his connection to important people.
“That’s why I’m calling on people to give us information. So if we have information, then we will deal with Maeva’s informers whether they are police officers, PNG Correctional Services officers or even politicians.”
Bayagau said “there were rumours that politicians in the province had sought Maeva and his gang’s assistance to intimidate voters to vote for them during the 2017 elections”.
There were also reports that police officers in the provincial police command were tipping him off to escape from mobile squad members brought in from Port Moresby to hunt him down, he said.
Earlier, Bayagau said that Maeva had been leading a gang of escapees who had been terrorising people in Milne Bay since 2013.
“He is also wanted by police for questioning about various criminal activities, including the alleged killing of two police officers in Milne Bay,” Bayagau said.