Road blocks for fast cash

I MUST make a serious complaint about these night road blocks randomly carried out in Port Moresby city, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.
These so-called police officers mount these road blocks to extort vehicle owners for cash.
If you are not able to produce cash, your driver’s licence will be confiscated and you will be told to report to the nearest police station.
In a recent incident, these policemen mounted a roadblock at Hohola and I was stopped and requested to produce my driver’s licence.
I have a class 6 licence which qualifies me to carry more than 16 passengers but was told that my utility vehicle was overloaded.
In the vehicle were my wife and children, my mother, father and relatives bound for home for the weekend.
The officer started reciting the part where I will be jailed and will have to explain myself to the courts.
He then said in Tokpisin, “Barata, umi yet so u stretim tok wantaim family na upla toktok lo mi na upla go.” As we were in a rush, a K20 let us off the hook.
The officer failed to produce an infringement notice as he was not attached to traffic police.
We, the  innocent people, are eing harassed by these thugs in blue.

Mata Ralema Kio, Via email