Police search for HIV trio

POLICE in the highlands region are looking for three HIV-infected men who are allegedly among 37 others who deliberately infected two women in a gang-rape in Mul-Baiyer district, Western Highlands.
Highlands Criminal Investigation Division officer-in-charge Madzuc Rubiang said two women had reported they were raped by 40 men and that three of them men were HIV-positive.
He said one of the suspected rapists was a reservist policeman.
“The two women were taken to Mt Hagen Provincial Hospital where medical checks were conducted,”
Rubiang said.
He said the women were victims of an on going tribal conflict
between the Nengakumdimp and Nengadakel tribes in Mul-Baiyer.
He said the fight erupted soon after the declaration of the Mul-Baiyer seat in the general election.
Rubiang said tens of thousands of kina worth of property such as permanent houses, coffee and food gardens were destroyed.
“I call on the leaders of the rival tribes to assist police in their investigations to apprehend the rape suspects,” Rubiang said.