Central Province Police and Mobile Squad arrested seven suspects involved in a long-overdue Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) case, that resulted in a death and several homes torched to ash two years ago.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, Commander of Central/NCD Benjamin Turi confirmed the suspects, six men and one woman are currently in police custody in Port Moresby and will be charged accordingly.
While an extreme muddy terrain was between Ganai Village and the main Highway, Police officer were able to manoeuvre their vehicles through a rich soil of unstable mud and rocks even though it took 18-hours to reach Ganai Village and return.
Meanwhile, Turi confirmed the SARV report from two years ago and mentioned receiving a copy of the initial report following the man accused recently died.
The initial report was submitted among several other reports to the local Police Station at Moreguina.
Commander Turi pointed out that 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.
He also said that Police will only take action when reliable and detailed information is provided, as conducting operations is costly and difficult when reports are vague and involved parties refuse to cooperate.
“The suspects are those who were involved in harbouring 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,” Turi said.
In addition, Commander Turi emphasized his delight toward a behaved group of suspects helping police officers recover from a being bogged when travelling back at 11pm in Ganai Village.
The suspects cooperated with the police, who got into the police vehicle and travelled another nine hours back to Port Moresby.
He said the suspects were informative in sharing the stress of minimum service delivery due to the poor road condition.
“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,” Turi said.
ACP Turi stressed the successful apprehension and confirmed He said the suspects are now detained at Sogeri Police Station, and a CID officer from Central is now taking charge of the case.
Commander Turi, while acknowledging the good work done by his officers, also challenged leaders in his command to work with the police so they can serve the people who need police services.