Sunday 20 November 2022
Police have confiscated 125 kilograms of methamphetamine and apprehended two Malaysians and two Papua New Guineans yesterday in the National Capital District.
Police Commissioner David Manning said the 125 kilograms of methamphetamine is worth about AU$15 million at commercial street value.
The dangerous drugs were confiscated by the police Transnational Crimes and Intelligence teams under the leadership of acting Deputy Commissioner Specialist operations Mr Donald Yamasombie.
“The drugs were confiscated when police were tipped off during the early hours (2 am) on Wednesday 16 November 2022.
“A small quantity of dangerous drugs was to be posted through a postal service overseas but intercepted by the police which led to the arrest of two PNG nationals and two Malaysians.
“The suspects are now in police custody and will be charged under the new Dangerous Drugs Amended Act and other Proceeds of Crime and anti-Money laundering Act,” Mr Manning said.
He said the Australian authorities would be contacted to do lab tests of the confiscated drugs.
“This threat is amongst all other law and order challenges in the county. It is a very dangerous substance to be held or consumed in our communities.
“Being a very young and mobile population, this type of drug is a very serious threat to our young population.
“I will be briefing the Internal Security Minister Hon. Peter Tsiamalili and sending recommendations on how best we can deal with this on a national scale. Not only dealing with combating the shipment of these drugs into the country but also recommendations relating to how we deal with people involved in this,” Mr Manning said.
In the meantime, the PNG Police continues its efforts to secure the country and ensure the communities are safe from this very serious threat to national security.