The bad road conditions in the Cloudy Bay LLG of Central Province did not deter four police vehicles that were on an operation to apprehend a group of suspects involved in a Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) case at Ganai village in Abau District.
According to people from Moreguina, Lalaura, Ganai, and other villages, the road conditions had caused them to miss out on most government services, with police services being one of them.
The Ganai villagers were surprised to see four police vehicles from Port Moresby in the village on Saturday night to apprehend suspects involved in a SARV and arson case that occurred two years ago.
The Commander of NCD/Central, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Benjamin Turi, confirmed that there was a report of a SARV case from about two years ago that led to a man losing his life and several houses being burnt to ashes.
He said several reports were filed at their local police station in Moreguina, and a copy was forwarded to him after the man who was accused died recently.
Commander Turi said when the report reached his office, he sought support from the Mobile Squad and the Central Provincial Police Commander, who planned the operation and successfully carried it out, leading to the apprehension of seven suspects.
“I had confirmed that six males and one female are now in police custody to be charged accordingly,” he said.
“The suspects are those who were involved in harboring the main suspects of the SARV case and those who were involved in seriously assaulting a man who died last month at Port Moresby General Hospital. The other suspect was also arrested for burning the SARV suspect’s house.
“We are here to help the people of our command, and we will try our best to help solve their issues. We were also told that they were happy to see police in the village to deal with the case that had separated families for some years.
“Police will act when information provided to them is accurate because it is very expensive to plan and execute a police operation when information is sketchy and the parties involved are not cooperative with police when they are asked to come forward.”
Commander Turi said he was pleased with how those suspects behaved when they were surrounded by the police at around 11 PM in Ganai Village. The suspects cooperated with the police, who got into the police vehicle and traveled another nine hours back to Port Moresby.
“I was pleased to hear that they assisted the police officers when the police vehicles got bogged down while they were returning back to Port Moresby. They also told the police officers that most of the government services, like the police, cannot reach them because of the bad road conditions.
“Otherwise, I am pleased with the police units who executed the operation successfully. It is now a message to others that the police will still come for you if you commit an offense. All we need is detailed information from victims so the police can plan and execute without doubt. This one was a good operation, and I want to thank the people who lodged the complaint,” Commander Turi said.
He said the suspects were now detained at Sogeri Police Station, and a CID officer from Central had taken charge of the case.
Commander Turi, while acknowledging the good work done by his officers, also challenged leaders in NCD/Central to work with the police to serve their people.