NCD metropolitan commander Supt Peter Guinness said the delay in interviewing the cabinet member in the Peter O’Neill-led government was because the case officer was out of the province.
POLICE have yet to interview a senior minister in whose home over half-a-million kina worth of ammunition was found.
NCD metropolitan commander Supt Peter Guinness said the delay in interviewing the cabinet member in the Peter O’Neill-led government was because the case officer was out of the province.
“The case officer lost his brother in the recent sinking of the mv Rabaul Queen and is in Lae,” Guinness said.
“As soon as he comes back, the MP will be called in for an interview.”
Guinness said the case was a sensitive matter and “only the case officer will deal with it”.
He said police had already written to the MP, telling him of their intention to question him.
He said the minister had indicated he would cooperate with them and would be accompanied by his lawyer to the police station on the appointed day.
Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah is now the acting minister in that portfolio.
“For now I will act in this position until such time he is cleared of the allegations,” Namah’said on Feb 5.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided the minister’s home in Port Moresby on Dec 27 last year and confiscated 2×20 rounds of .22 magazine, 100×7.62mm rounds, 105x9mm rounds and 12x.22 rounds and a pistol holder.
When the minister was contacted by the media on Dec 29, he denied being in possession of the ammunition and claimed he had been set up by political rivals who had colluded with police to discredit him.
Former acting Met Supt Norman Kambo said the ammunition was lethal and meant for guns like Self-loading rifles, M16s, .22 and 9mm guns.
“Police have yet to establish why the MP would keep such a large quantity of ammunition in his home,” Kambo said.
“At this stage we do not know how and where the MP got the ammunition. But we believe the ammunition was internally sourced,” he said.
