A man and his family have left their home in Nankina Valley and are seeking refuge elsewhere after the Hetwara gang tried to rape his ten-year-old daughter.
Madang Police reported the incident from the Rai Coast District, Madang Province.
Madang Provincial Police Commander Acting Superintendent Mazuc Rubiang said the Hetwara gang is still fighting with a resistance group in Nankina Valley. The PPC received reports that two Hetwara gang members were shot and seriously wounded by the resistance group from Taip Village on Wednesday 6th April 2022. After receiving this report, another resistance group from Mibu descended to Kwovan where the two victims are being nursed by their relatives.
PPC Rubiang said police reports stated that the Hetwara gang emerges from a very remote and isolate village called Daik in the Nankina area of Nayudo Local Level Government in Rai Coast. The gang has more than fifty (50) active members scattered throughout Nankina and had been operating there since 2019. Police say the gang is responsible for causing massive atrocities that include destruction of properties, unlawful killings, kidnapping for ransom, unlawful detention, abductions, rape, robberies a throughout Nankina.
“In December 2021, the gang attacked and completely destroyed seven villages and displaced more than one thousand families. The gang also killed two men and a five-year-old boy who tried to save his sister from being abducted by the gang members. They also seriously wounded several other innocent people. The gang also abducted five young school girls aged between 16 and 20, raped them and took them away to marry them,” said the PPC.
PPC Rubiang said the villages affected are being identified as Mibu, Yopbo, Sewan, Gumbayong, Miok, Gwarawon, Gakwak, Kwovan, Dagre, Langani, Mambit and Davang. Langani and Davang are in the Saidor Local Level Government area. The gang tried to attack Taip Village but faced strong resistance and suffered two casualties.
He said police personnel were deployed last week and are doing their best to get the two groups to reconcile. The PPC said police cannot travel from one location to another because of the geographical setting. Their only means of transport is by air. Police personnel on the ground in Tibu are communicating with community leaders to have the resistance groups surrender to police so that peace and normalcy can be restored throughout Nankina once and for all.