Acting Police Commissioner David Manning has cancelled a PNG gun dealer’s licence for making false declarations in the end user certificate.
Documents held by the Royal PNG Constabulary indicated that the PNG firearms dealer had imported high powered firearms specifically for the exclusive use of the Royal PNG Constabulary and not for sale or transfer to a third party.
However, a review recently carried out by the Royal PNG Constabulary and international partner agencies had revealed that a large quantity of these firearms have been sold to third parties in PNG.
Manning, who is also the acting Registrar of Firearms, said the trust has been broken and the United States of America will now no longer approve the export of firearms into PNG. He said this is a big let-down for our police operational purposes.
Under the Firearms Act, there are no provisions for an appeal by the firearms dealer.