Extortion

The complainant is a 32-year-old seafarer who had driven his friend’s vehicle to Lae Top Town on Wednesday, March 6^th, between 11.30am and 12pm.

As he was stepping out of the vehicle, he was approached by a police officer who introduced himself as ‘Constable John Paul’.

Southern Highlands Provincial Police Commander Chief Inspector Daniel Yangen said the man was charged with one count of unlawful use of Motor Vehicle, one count of armed robbery and one count of extortion. He said the suspect, identified as Sammy Mike Tom from Nipa's Kware Village, is being held at Buiebi Corrections facility in Mendi.

Police reports stated that on November 18, 2021, a doctor and driver of the stolen vehicle were travelling to Southern Highlands Teachers College to pick up students when they were held up by Tom at Huriap Bridge at Nipa Station.

Their accomplice, an officer with the Works Department, will also be charged accordingly.

The men were apprehended today following a covert operation by the Police Internal Affairs Directorate.

Kikori District Administrator and chief executive officer to the Kikori MP, Tars Sauka, was purportedly arrested on December 24^th at the Laguna Hotel after a District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) meeting.

The K800 that was transferred to one of the suspects’ accounts was refunded by the bank back to the woman’s family who had sent it on Tuesday. However, the K500 that was allegedly extorted from the woman is being held as exhibit. The money was taken from the woman and placed into a waist bag belonging to one of the suspects which was recovered by police, said First Constable Ian Gunawi of the Central Police Public Safety Unit.

He has further directed police to arrest anyone involved in extortion attempts.

Commissioner Baki issued this directive following a recent incident in Hela Province where people from Poroma hijacked 10 trucks and a Toyota 10-seater belonging to Trans Wonderland Ltd (TWL) to force people from Angore to pay a K3 million compensation claim. They claimed this was for a young man killed in a car accident three years ago.