Managing Director of NiuSky Pacific Limited, Captain Ted Pakii has explained the reason as to why many times Air Traffic Controllers have not been able to pick up suspicious aircrafts transporting illicit drugs in and out of the country, was due to pilots turning off their aircraft’s Transponders making them practically invisible to detection. A Transponder is an avionic system located on board the aircraft that provides information about the aircraft identification and barometric altitude to the air traffic controller. Once turned off, this disrupts the information that air traffic controllers receive. This poses a big challenge for air traffic controllers when providing surveillance. “If Pilots are doing illegal business, pilots will deliberately turn their transponders off and that’s what happened here and both in Papa-Lealea and the one in the Bulolo incident.” But, with the Modernization Program that was completed this year, the country's air surveillance systems should be up to par with that of most developed nations. In terms of surveillance, Mr. Pakii said they have got ground based and space based systems, but in order for them to detect aircrafts, the air crafts themselves must be appropriately equipped. However, with both the Papa-Lealea and the recent case in Morobe province, it's been established that those transporting these illegal drugs have avoided detection through employing other tactics.