The PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority has prevented a foreign national, who had historical convictions for sexual assault of a child, from entering Papua New Guinea.
Chief Migration Officer, Solomon Kantha, reported the individual had been convicted of assault on a child in their country of origin and had sought to enter PNG last week.
Kantha said “Foreign criminals are not welcome in our country. This person sought to enter PNG as a tourist, but we can only speculate as to his real motivations. I would like to praise the work of ICA Borders, Enforcement and Compliance staff at Jackson's International Airport.
"Our staff stopped this person, prevented him posing a risk to our community and ensured that he departed the country on the very same aircraft he arrived on.
"The efficiency of this action sends a clear message that ICA will offer no quarter to foreign criminals seeking to come to our country."
Kantha said: “Minister for Immigration and Border Security, Petrus Thomas, has challenged ICA to further modernise our systems and processes. With the assistance of the Police, ICA is connecting our visa and border systems to InterPol databases – giving real time access to alerts on criminals and stolen passports from all over the world. This is a vital tool for any modern border agency in which we will use to keep PNG safe."
With APEC now only days away, Kantha said ICA is in a formidable position to identify, detect and prevent security threats posed by the large number of travellers moving across PNG borders. ICA is proud to be one of the agencies at the forefront of APEC activities and stands ready to play their part in hosting a successful APEC 2018.