Prime Minister James Marape has made a call to the criminals responsible for holding hostage Australian Professor Bryce Barker, alongside fellow members of his research team in the Southern Highlands province, to surrender to police immediately before the law catches up with them. He said what had happened was serious and now the second phase of this operation will be to have those criminals arrested and charged accordingly. Marape said the first phase of the operation was completed with the release of the three hostages, including the Professor Bryce Barker. Prior to their release, the criminals had released the first hostage, a female, earlier during the week. “Criminal enterprise has no reward to it. Police operation will move into second phase, so you come out now or police will come into where you are,” stressed PM Marape. He said this area in Southern Highlands is of national interest because of its biodiversity, as such a security team comprising of police and defense force personnel will still be based up at the location in Mt Bosavi and ready to respond should there be a call to go into the now marked hot spot area and apprehend the criminals. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://pnghausbung.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/PM-Marape-on-criminals.mp4"][/video]