Police shoot to kill

 By YVONNE HAIP

SOUTHERN Highlands police commander Chief Supt Teddy Tei has issued a shoot-to-kill warning on criminals robbing travellers along Ambua and Tari Gap.

This followes a new trend of crime being operated in the areas.

According to police, the “syndicate” operating in the area was conducting hold-ups and robbing travellers at gunpoint.

However, the new move being practised by criminals was that when police moved into the crime hot spots, the suspects escaped in arranged pick-up vehicles.

Tei said this trend was new as robbers used to flee for their lives into the bushes, but this time they were more “organised”.

He said PNG was no place to conduct such organised crimes and those caught would not get away with it as police were coming up with tougher strategies to counter this.

Tei, after receiving numerous complaints from the travelling public, had ordered police to “shoot to kill” those caught. 

“Criminals are stepping up their operations so I will step up mine and get them by surprise,” he said.

“Most often the criminals tend to get away with whatever they do, but when police get them, they will face the full force of the law,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tei had called on people not to take the law into their own hands after a PMV driver was allegedly beaten to death by locals in Tegibo, near Tari and Ambua last week.

He said the PMV driver had allegedly narrowly missed a woman pedastrian, and locals, in retaliation, beat him to death.

The driver’s relatives were now setting illegal road blocks to pay back the killing.