Soldiers remove expired goods from barge

PAPUA New Guinea Defence Force soldiers removed expired store goods from a barge that were ordered by a businessman to be sold at the Morehead station in Western, manager Maninanzang Gantau says.
“The soldiers checked the store goods on the barge at Morehead station jetty after we reported bad practices done by the store owner for about two years now,” Gantau said.
“We told the soldiers, who were on operation along the PNG-Indonesian border that the barge always brings expired goods from Port Moresby like rice, flour, noodles that are infested with weevils.
“These goods include wet sugar and salt which are dumped at a store at the station. These goods are then sold at high prices to the villagers.”
Gantau said they had alerted the soldiers about the barge’s scheduled arrival from Port Moresby.
“The soldiers waited for the barge at Bula village (about 60kms from Morehead) at the mouth of the Morehead River last week,” Gantau said.
“When the barge came, they escorted it up to the station.
“They then checked the cargo ordered by the store owner.
“The ones that were bad or expired were reloaded to be taken back to Port Moresby.
“The items that were good were released to the store owner.”
He said the store owner was part of a chain of retailers based out of Port Moresby and doing business in remote parts of Western. “The owner orders goods from Port Moresby which have expired and are unfit for human consumption,” Ganatu said.
“So we reported him to the soldiers and they caught him red handed when they went through the goods.
“The soldiers also warned the store owner not to cheat the villagers by selling them expired goods.”
He said villagers along the river had fallen sick after consuming expired goods.