Police vow to end illegal trading of firecrackers

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
WEST Sepik police commander Chief Inspector Moses Ibsagi yesterday promised to stop firecrackers being smuggled into Papua New Guinea through the Indonesian border.
He said clamping down at the border meant getting rid of firecrackers in the entire country.
“I can assure you that no one in PNG will celebrate the 2019 New Year with cheap Indonesian-made firecrackers,” he said.
Ibsagi said for now, it was difficult to prevent the illegal but popular firecrackers being used in Papua New Guinea because large quantities were smuggled across the border.
“They have been brought because of the lack of monitoring of these firecrackers coming into West Sepik,” he said.
“We can’t do much but let the residents fire these away. There was continuous firing in Vanimo for two hours (on New Year’s day).
“It was noisy, intimidating and very disturbing. But this year these crackers will be banned because we will clamp down on them at the border. We will detain and jail any one bringing in firecrackers into the province. When we clamp down, these firecrackers will not be distributed and sold in other parts of the country.
“I’m getting reports from the other provincial commanders that firecrackers are causing problems for them.”
Ibsagi said that there was a high demand for firecrackers in the country for this year’s Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“These firecrackers are brought across the border into the province and then taken to Wewak in East Sepik. From there, they are taken to other centres,” he said.
“It is big business for people involved in this illegal trading.
“For example, an eight-round firecracker is bought at Batas for K7 and sold on the streets of Port Moresby for K70. Prices are different in other areas, depending on the demand and the cost of transportation.
“However, these firecrackers are dangerous to be transported on aeroplanes, and airline offices at Vanimo and Wewak airports should ensure that they are not transported.”