Shop owners slashed

THREE men of Chinesse origin were attacked and slashed by a group of men during a robbery of a shop at Kinim Station, Karkar Island, on Monday.
Karkar Island service provider Atis Deme said the group of 13 men arrived at around 8am at Kinim and entered a Chinese shop as soon as the store opened for business.
The men held up the shop’s three workers at gunpoint and the business owner was slashed in the stomach while the other two workers sustained wounds to their arms and backs, slashed as they tried to run away.
The robbers helped themselves to items in the shop before fleeing.
Deme said the three injured men were rushed to the Miak health centre for treatment.
He said the group was believed to be from the Madang mainland.
Deme called for police presence on Karkar Island to protect government and business assets there.
“We pay taxes from our businesses and yet we don’t have the full protection of the law,” Deme said.
He said Karkar Island had a population of more than 60,000 and there was a need for more police officers with vehicles and boats.
He said the Kinim police station was in a poor state and had been condemned a decade ago.
Karkar Island is one of Mamose’s biggest producer of cocoa and copra.
Presently, police presence on the island is inadequate to cater for its population and businesses.
Deme claimed that the island had experienced a major robbery every three months over the last 12 months and warned that criminals from the mainland would continue to target the island while police and security services were limited.
“I want the police commissioner and the police minister to know that Karkar Island needs serious police interventions,” he said.