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Road Scholars~
Guns for drugs and gold as PNG trafficking revs up
By Mark Forbes in Port Moresby
December 11, 2004
A sophisticated network is smuggling marijuana from Papua New Guinea into
Australia via the Torres Strait island of Daru, with the help of corrupt
officials.
Local police are involved in the smuggling, with senior officers conceding they
lack the resources to monitor the border.
Police and senior officials said guns were being smuggled into PNG, from
Australia via Daru, in part-payment for some drug shipments. Gold and diamonds
were also being smuggled into Australia in late-night, island-hopping speedboat
runs.
PNG police intelligence reports obtained by the Herald state that the drugs are
then transported to Cairns, where they are distributed by members of the
Bandidos bikie gang.
Daru is a short speedboat ride away from Australian territory and is fast
earning a reputation for frontier-town lawlessness.
Assistant police commissioner and southern region commander John Marru said a
sophisticated criminal gang, whose members included police and government
officers, was smuggling drugs to Australia through Daru. Smugglers were using
light aircraft as well as high-powered speedboats, he said.
Mr Marru said he lacked the resources to combat the trade and there was "nothing
really in place" for surveillance. Only two joint patrols with the Australian
Federal Police had been undertaken this year.
In his presentation to the Australia/PNG joint border advisory committee last
month, Mr Marru stated that local agencies "lack the capacity and appropriate
logistical and financial support ... to crack down on possible trafficking and
smuggling activities along the border". He told the meeting smuggling was likely
to increase, with more "sneak runs across the border to Australia", if
surveillance was not boosted.
A drug syndicate with links to an Australian criminal network was operating
between the highlands and Daru, he said. "It is believed that policemen,
businessmen and local citizens are heavily involved." He confirmed that a
policeman who spoke to the Herald, Senior Constable Emmanuel Bani, was part of
an undercover operation against drug smugglers, but said Mr Bani turned out to
be an associate of "a gang that operates in Daru".
Mr Bani claims he has been unfairly denigrated by the police force. "In the
province I am called a drug runner - why didn't they investigate that when I was
being used by them? I risked my life out there," he said.
He said he fled overseas after naming senior police, customs and defence
officials involved in the smuggling operation. He also alleges Australian
customs and quarantine officers are involved, and that senior police sat on his
information. "I have done the honest thing and the Government has failed me," he
said. "I believe our hierarchy is corrupt."
A report by Mr Bani names four Queensland businessmen allegedly involved in the
smuggling; two are said to have links to the Bandidos bikie gang. Mr Bani said
he obtained the information from members of the PNG syndicate after posing as a
drug trafficker. The report also names several senior PNG officials, including
police, military and customs personnel, and a member of the National
Intelligence Organisation.
The assistant commissioner, crime, Raphael Huafolo, said he wanted to contact Mr
Bani urgently so he could evaluate and investigate his allegations. Mr Huafolo
said he had already established a taskforce to examine the activities of police
on Daru.
Mr Bani told the Herald he could consider Mr Huafolo's invitation, but feared he
might be killed if he returned to PNG.
Arms and drug trafficking from Daru "is a problem", Mr Huafolo said. "We need to
effectively monitor all these vast areas; a couple of patrols a year is not
adequate. Substantial quantities of drugs are being confiscated in Daru, it has
been used as a transit point.
