Traders told to obey rules

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE loss of a Lae trader’s licence after breaching the liquor ban is a warning to others that the Morobe provincial government will not tolerate illegal practices.
Morobe deputy governor Morokoi Gaiwata said Jamp Trading owner and former Lae urban ward six councillor Joseph Mand was not helping restore peace and normalcy after Lae was declared a fighting zone.
Gaiwata said he would direct the provincial executive council and the provincial liquor licensing board to cancel any licence applications from rogue businesses in Lae who defied government directives.
He believes it would decrease the number of traders and black marker dealers who were contributing to the escalating lawlessness in the industrial hub.
Mand’s company was caught recently selling 35 cartons of beer from its distribution shop at West Taraka to a trader.
Provincial liquor licensing board chairman Bob Singoling and police later saw that 788 cartons of various liquors were impounded from his warehouse.
“We are doing this because such businessmen are not helping the people and the government. Other businessmen doing business illegally will face the same fate,” Gaiwata said.