Probe gun supply: Parkop

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NATIONAL Capital District Governor Powes Parkop has called for investigations into establishing who is supplying guns to people in Enga and Hela.
Parkop told Parliament last week that arresting “warlords” was not the answer because there were people who were trafficking guns and ammunitions to them.
“These are village people, where do they get all those high-powered guns and ammunitions from?” he asked.
“There is someone supplying them, and we have to find them and arrest them.”
Parkop claimed there were rumours that some of the firearms and ammunitions used by criminals were from the police armoury and called on the Police Commissioner (David Manning) to tighten up and monitor the police armoury.
“Do they have any plans of getting an independent body to monitor police armoury?
“And if guns and ammunitions go missing and are later found at crime scenes, can there be investigations to find out how they went missing and ended up there?”
Parkop said a good number of policemen had been killed in Enga and Tari and so far there was no arrests.
“Even the case at Milne Bay, fugitive Tommy Baker has not been arrested,” he said.
Parkop said if: “We could not manage the gun issue, then maybe there should be a `conscious’ decision to legalise firearms so that the Government could regulate it.
“Because if we are not going to go and get those guns from them, just legalise it so we can regulate and control it.
“There may be some tribes who have more guns than the others and therefore are bullying them, and the other tribe is living in fear.
“Let’s legalise it so everyone can have firearms to protect themselves,” he said.
Meanwhile, Police Minister Bryan Kramer said police had placed orders for 15 bullet-proof vests and were looking at buying armoured vehicles to carry out operations in volatile places.
He said until police were equipped, their number one priority should be on the safety and well-being of the people and themselves rather than “going with guns blazing” at armed criminals.
“Until we have proper operational command and our officers are properly-equipped and trained, we should not be carrying out operations on armed criminals,” he said.
“Because these police officers have families and we can’t just send them in without training and equipping them.”
Kramer gave his assurance that the issue of illegal firearms will be dealt with prudently under his leadership.