Thirteen detainees escaped from police custody in Manus

Main Stories

THIRTEEN detainees in Manus may have hacksawed their way to freedom from the Lorengau Police Station cells on Tuesday morning, police say.
Manus police commander Chief Insp David Yapu said most of them were charged with minor offences.
He said they might have used hacksaw blades to cut an iron bar and escape.
He said three, including a murder suspect, had surrendered to police and 10 were still at large.
Chief Insp Yapu, who was frustrated with the escape, directed his police station commander to investigate and take appropriate action against the escapees and police officers on duty.
He said that if there was any negligence from the duty police officers, they should be suspended and disciplined.
He also said that some alleged offenders in custody were charged with various criminal offences and remained in custody without appearance in court because there was no magistrate available to hear their cases.
“The former senior provincial Magistrate Ben Kome was transfered out of the province and we are still waiting for new magistrates to arrive in Lorengau to fast track the fresh cases with other trial and committal cases,” Chief Insp Yapu said.
He said he had advised his officers to release on bail offenders charged with minor offences and advise them (alleged offenders) to appear in court when a magistrate was available.

One thought on “Thirteen detainees escaped from police custody in Manus

  • Detainees escaping from police care should not be taken lightly. Its a complete failure by police force and police officer in-charge of the station and on duty should be charged for failing the state.

Comments are closed.