border

With a length of 1,744ft (531m), the passage had a rail track, electricity and a ventilation system.

US authorities had been carrying out surveillance at a property previously used as a stash house for smuggling cocaine when they made the discovery.

They seized cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. Six people are being held on drug-trafficking charges.

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California said the tunnel was 61ft (18m) deep and 4ft (1m) in diameter.

The Cook Islands has announced it will re-open its borders from the second week of January, but Niue Tourism Board chairperson Vanessa Marsh said they would not following suit.

She said Niue doesn't have a set date for re-opening its borders, but the country was looking toward late in the first half of 2022.

Marsh said Niue was taking a cautious approach.

From the PNGDF headquarters, the Rotary Wing detachment arrived in Kiunga yesterday in two helicopters.

“We’re inserting troops into Obo and Suki. It’s part of our normal support to our four settlements in the border province,” stated Major Douglas Vavar. “But it’s also part of the state of emergency operations. These are our efforts towards the whole-of-nation fight against COVID-19.

Minister for Inter-Government Relations, Kevin Isifu, says the SME facility will be established once land is identified.

The Minister responsible for the Wutung Border Post in West Sepik says an international bus service and terminal have also been proposed.

The SME facility will accommodate locals at the border to sell their goods to visiting Indonesians.

“We will properly identify the area that they (SMEs) can be able to do their marketing. So the SME business will be relocated as soon as we find the land,” Isifu said.

Minister for Inter-Government Relations, Kevin Isifu, revealed this during the three-day Government fact-finding mission to West Sepik Province.

He said this is one of the major contributors to the cash flow shortage in the country.

Minster Isifu said trade from both sides of PNG-Indonesia border is unbalanced.

“We have one side trading off our currency and business activity. Over K750,000 Papua New Guineans spend over the border, money going over to Indonesia,” he stated.

Minister Isifu said this is something that he will look into.

Mr Simon said whilst visiting the border recently, he found out that there is no water and no electricity, even no toilets at the border post.

Member for Maprik said it is a disgrace as we tend to fetch water from the Indonesia border to use as we don’t have any water on our side to use for toilet.

He said many people are frequently travelling on the border without even being screened properly.

“People are traveling in and out of the border without any consent or authorities’ control.

This was the statement from the PNG Opposition Leader, Don Pomb Polye, after his historic visit to Batas on Saturday.

The Opposition Leader said both governments needed to encourage businesses to build permanent buildings on each side of the border to sell their items.

"Trade worth more than K3 million takes place at the border without any proper control by authorities. It adds to the tally of total capital outflow," he said.

After the trip, Polye said he learnt that PNG faced trade deficit there.

Vice Minister for Inter Government Relations Joe Sungi revealed this at the 33rd Joint Border Committee between the PNG and Indonesia recently in Port Moresby.

Sungi told the delegation that the opening cannot be prolonged or deferred as it is one of the most significant investment that the two countries have chosen since the beginning of their diplomatic relations.

Solomon Islands Police, National Security and Correctional Services Commission secretary, Wilson Orisi, says the mission, to be led by MP Jimmy Lusibaea, will travel to the Shortland Islands, Gizo and Munda.

He says problems at the border have developed because the area has been left unattended by agencies such as police, immigration, customs and quarantine for some time.

Mr Orisi says the border has allegedly been violated by criminals and the Commission wants to learn about people's experiences regarding both illegal and legal crossings.

This follows reports from Indonesia that two Indonesian logging workers who had been held hostage in Skoutio village of PNG's West Sepik province for around a week were rescued late last week by PNG Defence Force soldiers.

The pair were reportedly kidnapped earlier this month by an armed group while cutting wood in Indonesia's Keerom regency, a three-hour walk from Skoutio.

The kidnappers had also shot a person who was later treated at hospital in Jayapura.