Reports on escapees a concern

ACTING Manus police commander Senior Inspector David Yapu is concerned about reports of remandees escaping from the Correctional Service Institution in Lorengau since last week.
Yapu said yesterday that there were two separate reports of escapes from Manus jail involving criminals charged for serious offences.
He said last Wednesday, remandee Kelly Kuwoh charged for a major hold up at Lorengau Enterprise Limited escaped from the correctional institution.
Kuwoh later surrendered after Yapu went on NBC Radio Manus and appealed to him to do so.
Kuwoh has been charged with escaping from custody and was to have appeared in court on Tuesday.
Last Thursday, June 30, another two remandees, Walter Ted and Wendol Agua from Likum village in Lorengau, who have been charged with wilful murder, escaped during lunch and are still on the run.
Yapu is appealing to the top management of CS and other relevant high authorities to look into the issue, especially the run down facilities and lack of manpower.
Yapu said he did want to see such a trend continue, as it would give an extra burden to his officers with regards to resources, manpower and  time to go out and look for the escapees, when they had other important duties to attend to.
Meanwhile, Yapu has directed his police station commander to conduct investigations into the escape of three suspects who escaped from police cells on the weekend.
He said if there was any negligence involved in the escape, those officers responsible would be dealt with accordingly and suspended from duty.
Yapu appealed to the community leaders to assist police in capturing the escapees.