Villagers call for more police patrols along h’way

THE Poroma and Nipa sections of the Highands Highway in the Nipa-Kutubu district of Southern Highlands have become a nightmare for travellers and people are appealing to police to patrol the area.
A truck, loaded with store goods heading for Moro in Kutubu, was looted at Poroma station last Wednesday night.
Owner of the goods George Warr Pind, from Tubiri village on the outskirts of Mendi town told The National that he lost almost K5000 worth of goods which included rice, canned fish, noodles and chicken stockfeed.
He said he was travelling from Mt Hagen to Moro when the locals standing on the hillside jumped onto the vehicle equipped with bush knives and bolt cutters.
“The road leading to Moro is similar to a feeder road and no longer looks like a national highway as it is full of potholes and is very narrow. They stood at several sections of the road and jumped onto vehicles when it slowed down to negotiate potholes,” Pind said.
“They cut the wire mesh, then cut the thick canvas and threw the goods into the bushes one by one as they wanted to jump off somewhere and later slowly walk back to collect the goods.
“Lucky that I was travelling at the back and they jumped off after spotting me. If not I would have lost K40,000 worth of goods,” he said.
Pind said police at the Poroma Police Station were notified and they said they would talk to the community to return the goods.
“I am appealing to the community leaders to talk to the youths to return the stolen goods as I have struggled to transport the goods from Mt Hagen,” Pind said.