The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is putting together a team to attend to the recent kidnapping of 17 school girls by criminals at the Mt. Bosavi area bordering Southern Highlands and Hela provinces. Commissioner of Police, David Manning advised that the RPNGC is mobilizing officers from the capital to be deployed into the Mt. Bosavi area to assist local officers in rescuing the kidnapped school girls and apprehend the suspects involved. They will also be considering assistance from the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). “Local forces have already been deployed to address the situation, at the same time we are mustering officers here from Port Moresby to be deployed into the area.” Earlier this week a group of men, believed to number around 40, kidnapped 17 female school students and are currently holding them hostage and demanding K40, 000 in ransom for the students. This is the second kidnapping incident that has occurred in recent months in the same area, the previous being that of the foreign national lecturer and university students who were doing research work at Mt. Bosavi. Manning also stated that the follow up activities of the first kidnapping didn’t take place, thus the criminals took advantage of the situation and have gone to commit this next crime of kidnapping the schools girls. However, he has advised that Police will not stop until they apprehend the criminals responsible for the kidnapping and safely extract the girls and return them to their families.