Public defying directives

BY SYLVESTER WEMURU
A LOT of smuggling of items such as betel nuts and liquor took place during the Easter long weekend in Port Moresby, according to police.
National Capital District Met Supt Perou N’dranou said the public continued to defy state of emergency (SOE) directives and health advice that disallowed chewing of betel nuts and spitting as part of Corvid-19 prevention.
He said even though there were orders to stop people from bringing in betel nuts, they were still doing that and it was “a very big issue for the police to enforce these orders”.
He said a vehicle with betel nuts believed to be driven by a policeman had been impounded at Boroko Police Station while investigations continued to establish who actually drove the vehicle.
Met Supt N’dranou said information had been collected and the suspect was known and he would be arrested soon.
The police national drug and the mobile squads were working with other police units to address the issue of smuggling of betel nuts, he said.
The two teams picked up the bags of betel nuts and disposed them and the operation would continue.
“Basically, it is a cat and mouse game because we believe that the SOE directives are very important,” he said.
“We all chew betel nuts but for this time, we all must work together to make sure that we do not spread that deadly virus because many people are dying every day because of it.”
Meanwhile, the national security unit (NSU) of the Mobile squad based at the McGregor Police Barracks working afternoon shift on Sunday confiscated four bags of betel nuts after getting a tip-off from the public that a boat was smuggling the nuts to Pari village.
Sgt Isaiah Sikara, who was in-charge of that shift, said it was a very challenging task for them to enforce the betel nut ban which was an SOE directive.
He said there were many bags of nuts that were brought in by boats but the smugglers escaped when they heard that the police were going there. Only four bags were left behind.