Soldiers sent to Gulf to support Covid-19 ops

By MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO
THE PNG Defence Force sent 60 soldiers to Gulf over the weekend as part of the Covid-19 operations and to provide support for flood victims in the province.
Gulf Governor Chris Haiveta sent food – about 90 tons of rice and salt – for the 60,000 people in the province who lost their homes and gardens to flooding.
PNGDF commander Brig-Gen Gilbert Toropo said that further reinforcement could be sent.
“That’s the land forces but we will reinforce the maritime forces,” he said.
Haiveta said 200 police reserves and regular personnel, 300 health workers and 300-400 people from all LLGs were on standby to work alongside the troops in all the activities they would be involved in.
“I commend the communities and the leadership of the province to track down people who are unwanted and who are not supposed to be there,”he said.
“They already have heard the instructions for the last six weeks since we started.”
Haiveta said many Indonesians were living in the province before Covid-19 epidemic started.
“We’ve found it very hard to deal with them because we don’t have the facilities to hold them or the people to charge them,” he said.
“Your men (PNGDF troops) possess unique skills that is much needed at this time, especially when we are fighting an invisible enemy that is carried by ourselves, the people.
“The people I’m referring to are, of course, the people who slip through across borders,” he said.