The number of bag snatching and harassment occurrences along Lae’s boundary road have increased in the last several months.
Residents say most of the crimes have involved prison escapees and wanted criminals.
So far, one person has been killed along the area after he reacted.
Lae’s boundary road section in the last eight months has become a hot spot for criminal elements.
It’s on this junction that girls, women and children are held up for their mobile phones.
Several weeks ago, when two separate mobs reacted to a bag-snatching incident and started throwing missiles at each other.
The hot spot for these incidents occurs on the corner, opposite to the abandoned Mibai store.
“We stand here and watch as people get mugged and held up with home made guns, knives and screw drivers, we can’t do anything because we have a client here to protect,” says Joseph Kaupa, a Kuima static guard who mans the gates of Value Inn motel opposite Taun Street.
“Its often difficult to help those who are held up, we fear our safety also,” says Value Inn Manager, Jonathan Mones.
It’s understood that there are people monitoring movement starting from Taun Street and a group is at Beech Street as well at the store ready to attack unsuspecting pedestrians.
Mobile phones have made it easier for the gang to notify each group of potential victims, especially women and young girls walking alone.
On the 13th of this month, a Lae Polytechnic student who refused to give up his mobile phone over to a suspect known by residents was stabbed.
He was rushed to his house and later died.
A Lae resident who reported this incident to EMTV also documented a series of crimes in the boundary road area ranging from bag snatchings to carjacking.
All this comes as new investments pour into Lae City and investor confidence is on the rise.
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