Johnny
Blades RNZ Pacific senior journalist
Some Papua
New Guinea parliamentarians are calling for tougher laws
against violent criminals who they say should be categorised
as “terrorists”.
It comes as PNG police released
details of a counter-terrorism operation in Southern
Highlands province, in which they seized
a cache of high-powered weapons and military-grade
explosives.
Various districts in PNG have been
experiencing a surge in activity by criminal groups,
according to MPs during discussion this week in
parliament.
Oro governor Gary Juffa said that in his
province, criminal organisations have been engaging in
“brutal, violent crimes, killings, injury to innocent people
and disruption of especially health and education
services”.
“These criminal organisations, we are
submitting that they be declared ‘terrorist organisations’
because that is essentially what they are doing – these are
crimes of terror whereby they are disrupting government
services deliberately and preventing our children from
accessing these services, our women, our elderly people, our
innocent citizens.”
Juffa sought an update from
Attorney-General Pila Ninigi over a submission to his office
earlier this year from the Police Minister which asks for
criminal groups targeting public infrastructure and
government services to be declared terrorists.
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Ninigi,
who is also the justice minister, said the government was
looking into it and assured Juffa that the issue is being
taken seriously.
“There are constitutional questions
that need to be answered and looked at. If it needs to amend
certain provisions in the constitution, we shall do so, and
come through the parliament [to] make necessary amendments,”
Ninigi said.
In 2014, PNG’s parliament passed the
Counter Terrorism Act, which defines terrorism, prescribes
what constitutes a terrorist organisation, and gives police
and defence forces expanded powers.
Police
counter-terror raid
Police this week said a
counter-terrorism operation in Southern Highlands province
resulted in seizure of factory-made weapons, ammunition and
military-grade explosives in a raid on a business in
Poroma.
“In particular, the discovery of C-4 explosive
blocks and detonation fuses is extremely alarming, as this
material has no legitimate use in civil society and is
extremely dangerous,” the country’s police commissioner
David Manning said.
“The threat posed by these
domestic terrorist groups is serious, and poolice will
continue to break open their networks, remove weapons and
take suspects into custody to prevent them from undertaking
attacks on vulnerable communities.”
News of the
seizure, which occured in late September, comes as police
also seized a major cache of high-powered firearms and
weapons manufacturing equipment in Port Moresby last
week.
“Criminals holding these explosives, along with
assault rifles, shotguns and hundreds of rounds of
ammunition pose a high terrorist threat and this is why we
have new laws in place to deal with them,” Manning
said.
“Investigations are still underway and charges
being prepared, as well as the ongoing hunt for accomplices
and those involved in bring the weapons to where they were
hidden.”
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