Victims turn tables on Alotau robbers

TWO alleged robbers are warded in Alotau General Hospital after their victims turned the tables on them at Goodenough Island’s Ulutua village.
The duo were among four men wielding homemade guns who robbed a store of K1,000 worth of goods on Monday morning.
Relatives of the store owner seized the opportunity to pounce on the two as the robbers were making their getaway.
Provincial police commander Sr Insp Lincoln Gerari said yesterday the duo were beaten up by the store relatives and handed them to the police.
He said the other two robbers had fled the village.
Gerari said Bolubolu police at Goodenough had been alerted to be on the look-out for the suspects and if need be, reinforcements would be set to help in investigations and the manhunt.
In another incident, Alotau police arrested and charged Tommy Baker Meava, 24, with a string of armed robberies that included the attempted BSP robbery in Alotau in May.
Meava was arrested in Port Moresby’s 8-Mile settlement last week where he had fled after the attempted bank robbery.
Police did not disclose how he was picked up and by whom.
Gerari said police had also last week arrested and charged a prison escapee who was serving 13 years imprisonment in Giligili for armed robbery in 2007. He escaped from prison the same year.
The fugitive was alleged to have robbed an InterOil service station in Alotau recently of K16,000 in valuables and cash.
The fugitive’s alleged accomplice was also arrested and charged this week.