Registry office burgled, closes over theft

THE Alotau Civil and Identity Registry Office in Milne Bay has closed indefinitely after thugs broke into the office and burled it, taking two mobile registration kits worth K30,000 each on Thursday, an official says.
Acting registrar-general Noel Mobiha said NID registration kits contained a laptop with sophisticated NID registration software, NID registration data for the people of Milne Bay, high-performing digital camera, scanner and other accessories. As a result, birth and NID registrations for the people of Milne Bay will be affected by this unfortunate situation, he said.
Mobiha said people involved in lawlessness should bear in mind that their actions would stop Government services such as birth certificates and national identity cards reaching the whole province.
“Re-opening of the registry office depends entirely on how fast the current national security threats and lawlessness in Alotau is neutralised,” he said. PNG Civil and Identity Registry urged the people of Alotau to help police and registry office with information that would lead to retaining the properties and NID registration data for the people of Milne Bay.