Police: Villagers hiding suspects

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
TURETURE villagers allegedly led by their councillor threatened five policemen and freed two illegal Indonesian immigrants last Thursday, South Fly police commander Supt Brian Kombe says.
“The police were outnumbered,” he said.
“They (villagers) also prevented the policemen from taking the Indonesians to the Daru police station. “They are harbouring the Indonesians who are involved in illegal barter trade.”
He said the villagers claimed that the Government did not look after them like the Indonesians.
Kombe said the illegal Indonesian immigrants’ barter trade activities breached laws that cover customs, national fisheries, quarantine, conservation and immigration.
“They brought food, clothing and other store supplies to the villagers who exchanged them with bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber), Jew fish maw and barramundi (for medicinal purposes) and other medicinal plants.”
Kombe said five policemen went to the village to investigate complaints of fishing nets and a dinghy being stolen.
They arrived at 2pm and spotted two suspects, the Indonesians, and arrested the duo.
“But the villagers rushed to aid the Indonesians and threatened the policemen.
“The boat skipper, on seeing the mob, fled in the boat, leaving the policemen stranded in the coastal village,” he said.
“The policemen then retreated with the Indonesians and walked to Old Mawatta village about a kilometre away. “However, the villagers got onto their dinghy, chased and captured the skipper.
“They then took the dinghy and the skipper back to the village.”
Kombe said the villagers managed to catch up with the policemen at 5pm to free the Indonesians.
“The next day, I led another 10 men to Tureture from Daru.
“However, we faced another setback when the dinghy loaded with the other reinforcement team comprising of 16 officers sank after departing from Old Mawatta.”