By Martha Louis – EM TV News, Port Moresby
A young man in his late 20s was caught trying to smuggle a 16kg bag of marijuana packed in a suitcase at the Lae Nadzab Airport at 9am this morning.
The suspect believed to be from a mixed parentage of East Sepik and Central province, was onboard a PNG Air flight ready to depart when he was asked to leave the plane.
The haul has a street market value of more than K10,000.
At 9am G4S security guard, John Michael, was checking luggage to make sure passengers were not carrying prohibited materials onto the plane.
It was then that the guards found the suitcase packed with eight parcels of marijuana wrapped neatly with black wrappers.
G4S Internal Investigator, Bonny Taini, said the suspect was attempting to take the drugs to Rabaul.
He said the suspect bought the drugs from Goroka and was on his way to Rabaul when he was caught.
Last Friday, a similar incident occurred at the airport where a man and an elderly woman were caught carrying parcels of drugs wrapped in a clear white plastic.
Both have been caught, arrested and charged. They are now in police custody awaiting their first court appearance next week. This is not the first incident that has happened, many people have gotten away with drug smuggling at the Nadzab Airport.
This incident highlights the need to upgrade airport security facilities to help cut down on the number of incidences that have occurred.
