Police retrieve vehicle belonging to PNG Power taken by Togoba students

A VEHICLE belonging to the PNG Power Limited station at Kaupena, Southern Highlands, was taken by students attending Togoba Secondary School last week after they heard of the confrontation in Port Moresby between police and University of Papua New Guinea students.
The vehicle which was hidden at Nebiliyer in Western Highlands, was discovered by Mendi police who informed their counterparts in Mt Hagen.
Southern Highlands police commander Chief Supt Sibron Papoto told The National that apart from that incident, there were no damage done to vehicles belonging to Southern Highlanders travelling between the provinces.
However, only the police highway patrol vehicle had two of its windows smashed.
He said police were patrolling the highway and commuters were free to travel without fear.
Meanwhile, Southern Highlands police have also reported recovering six stolen vehicles hidden at Poroma in the Nipa-Kutubu district.
Papoto said the main suspect from Utupia village in the Poroma local level government was taken by Mendi police to Madang last week and handed over to police there.
He is wanted by Madang police for allegedly drawing a false cheque for K127,000 to buy a vehicle.
“Ela Motors, Wamp Nga Motors and other genuine car dealers must verify cheques before releasing vehicles to buyers,” he said.
“We are advancing into the computer world and there are smart people who come with false cheques.”
Papato appealed to second-hand car buyers to identify car sellers and report to police before releasing money.
“People have lodged complaints of vehicle owners coming after them and taking the vehicles away and their money being wasted and the sellers going into hiding,” he said.
He said a policeman based at Ialibu acting as a middleman had sold a stolen vehicle from Goroka, Eastern Highlands, for  K70,000 and the buyer had paid K50,000.
An investigation was carried out by Goroka police and the vehicle was retrieved. But the buyer had lost K50,000.
The policeman has been identified and will be questioned.