A man has been arrested in Manus following last month’s break and enter incident of the Lorengau Electoral Commission office, where two laptops and other valuable items worth K15,000 were stolen.
Manus provincial police commander (PPC), Chief Inspector David Yapu, said the suspect was picked up last Friday, July 5th, at the Ward 5 market in Lorengau, where he was later charged.
Frustrated at the incident of June 28th, PPC Yapu said this is the fourth time the PNG Electoral Commission office was broken into.
He said people must respect this office as they are ready to go out and deliver the LLG Elections for the people of Manus to elect their leaders for their ward level.
The Electoral office break in occurred after nominations for the LLG election were open at 4pm on Thursday, June 27th.
Despite the break in, election manager Alice Sikin said nominations for LLG Election went smoothly with more than 195 candidates nominating so far.
On the security operation for the LLG elections, PPC Yapu said 85 officers have been engaged, including police reservists that will cover 41 polling teams.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old from Mokoreng village in Los Negros LLG is in critical condition at the Lorengau Hospital ICU, after he was stabbed on his left side on Saturday night during a fight.
Police are still investigating the stabbing but say the victim, Hillary Collin, was attending a Catholic youth rally at Mokereng village when the incident occurred.