The recent murder of a taxi driver at Gerehu stage 2 on monday, in relations to betel-nut selling is affecting the innocent residents of Gerehu.
According to the Western Highlands spokesperson, Solo Mel, the decreased was brutally murdered in front of the Gerehu TST shopping complex, with bush knives bought from the nearby Bismillah store.
Mel Said, the incident started last week when the deceased was asked to act like an informer for a group of betel-nut sellers. His task was to check the Laloki betel-nut check point and inform the betel-nut sellers if there were guards monitoring the check point.
Unfortunately, on his way to the check point, his phone and sim were confiscated by police. This resulted in a lack of communication between the two parties.
Thus, the betel- nut sellers who were already at the Laloki betel-nut market had to guess their way back. In doing so, all their betel-nut bags valued at over K20 000 were confiscated by Police.
This then frustrated the betel sellers and in retaliation, they tracked the taxi driver down, beat him and killed him on Monday.
Leaders from WHP are now calling on leaders from Enga province to come forth for a peace talk before the deceased can be flown back to Western Highlands for burial. He is survived by his wife and son.
In the meantime, residences at Gerehu are still living in fear of the possibility of another fight. The shops and food market have reopened to normal trading hours but students from schools in Gerehu are hesitant to attend classes for this week.
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