A man from Hela Province has been convicted by the District Court in Mt Hagen to serve 10 years in prison if he does not have K30, 000 to pay fines for smuggling marijuana via Kagamuga Airport. The defendant, Gini Pini from Tigibi, Hulia LLG in Hela Province was found guilty and convicted by Mt Hagen District Court Magistrate Kimberly Berem on Wednesday. The defendant had testified that he did bribe the security guards at Kagamuga Airport to move the drugs out to coastal provinces. Kagamuga Airport police did the arrest upon tip off by National Airport Corporation (NAC) Aviation Security. According to Western Highlands Provincial Police Commander John Sagom, the drugs weighed 10 kilograms and had an estimated street value of K100,000 (One hundred thousand kina). He thanked the NAC Security for alerting police. "I urge the NAC Security to work closely with my officers in this kind of partnership so that together we can build a good network in detecting the shipment of drugs (cannabis), arms and ammunition etc., from illegally entering and to curb shipment of dangerous drugs or weapons in and out of Western Highlands and the Highlands region using air services." He said they needed to build strong capabilities and partner in ensuring air transport services are monitored for the safety of every person. Meanwhile in another related drug case, a man caught with 82 marijuana packs at Mt Hagen main market has been sentenced to three years imprisonment at Baisu jail. The defendant Bomai Paulus is from Kumbagl village in Kerowagi District, Simbu Province. The two men were punished under the laws dealing with drugs, namely Dangerous Drug Act and Controlled Substance Act. PPC Sagom has applauded the Court's decisions on sentencing the offenders. "I wish to warn citizens not to engage in dangerous drugs (cannabis) business as you may be thinking of making fast money." "People who are involved in this dirty business are also responsible for causing health problems for the users and also contributing to the rise of crimes in the community." "You may think you are smarter than the law and the law is ineffective but you will be in trouble when the long arms of the law catches up with you." "You will have alot of regrets and it will be just too late," PPC Sagom warned.