Six (6) out of the nine (9) convicts detained from the successful drug bust at the start of April in the Gulf province will be transported to the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Correctional Service (CS) Bomana facility outside Port Moresby due to rumors of bribery at play to release prisoners.
The Provincial Police Commander (PPC) for Gulf, Chief Inspector (CIP) Jeffery Lemb told PNG Hausbung that he believes that some police officers have accepted bribery to release the prisoners; therefore, the prisoners will have to be transported out of the province.
PPC Lemb said the six prisoners will serve out their sentences at the Bomana Correctional facility.
Of the total 9, four (4) were sentences to 17-years, and two (2) to 13-years under the new Control Substance Act 2021.
However, for the three (3) remaining prisoners, the court magistrate has postponed their court case due to outstanding preparation in the prisoners’ profile.
PPC Lemb went on to explain that the new Controlled Substance Act 2021 is an appropriate penalty to charge for individuals who exercise and encourage illegal and dangerous activity in the provinces across PNG. It satisfies drug case penalties, to scare off illegal drug activities.
The PPC also shared that from the estimated number of criminals sentenced for drug cases throughout his years in command have accumulated to almost 700, which shows the commitment of Gulf police to actually conduct police operations to stop illegal drug activities.
He said this is quite a big number of convictions and cases handled by his officers compared to other centers like Port Moresby city, where he says police drug operations there seem to be unreasonably quiet for a bustling city.