Four male suspects were arrested by NCD police for allegedly robbing a woman at Erima of over K60,000 in cash on January 16.
The four suspects, all from Hela Province, were part of a seven-man gang whom police believe had colluded to rob the victim, a gold buyer, after seeing a stash of cash in her possession near the Erima Flyover.
NCD Metropolitan Superintendent, Perou N’Dranou, said two of these suspects were arrested after members of the NCD Fox Units retrieved and viewed CCTV footages showing them loitering and selling cigarettes to the victim at the crime scene.
N’Dranou said the policemen interviewed them and obtained names of five more suspects involved in this crime.
They further checked the Facebook accounts of these five suspects and saw two of them holding onto airline tickets destined for Goroka and Mount Hagen.
Undercover policemen then went to the Jackson’s airport terminal, staked out and caught two of them while three others fled from the airport and are still at large.
N’Dranou commended members of the NCD Fox units for their persistency, which resulted in the arrest of the four suspects.
He said five of them were attempting to fly out to Mt Hagen and Goroka when police foiled their plan and arrested two of them.
Only K250 was recovered from these suspects and police are extensively questioning them in an effort to retrieve more of the stolen cash.
N’Dranou appealed to city residents to keep their money in the banks and use the bank cards for their business transactions, and to refrain from carrying huge amounts of money around in public places where they can easily become targets for opportunists and criminal elements.
Police investigation on this case continues.