The head of the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate, Donald Yamasombi, says Papua New Guinea’s gun laws need to be toughed to provide a deterrent to potential gun smugglers.
Yamasombi said gun smuggling is linked to other serious crimes. In recent months, police and customs officers have had to use the Cutoms Act to charge gun smugglers.
Some of the weapons being smuggled into the country are M4 carbines – military weapons – that are standard issue for some special forces including the US navy seals.
Papua New Guinea customs and police officers are having a difficult time not only tracking down the illegal imports but also penalizing those responsible for the imports.
Much of the difficulty stems from old gun laws like the PNG firearms 1978 which specifies penalties of no more than 5 years and fines of up to K1500.
Donald Yamasombi, has been trying to convince key government agencies and legislators to amend gun laws to reflect the changing PNG landscape.
He maintains the old gun laws do little to help police deal with security issues in Papua New Guinea.
Brian Lilywhite, the customs officer responsible for all incoming weapons says there’s a lot more military type weapons coming through seemingly legitimate channels.
From their investigations, they’ve found weapons like Russian made AK47s in the hands of security companies – fully licensed in Papua New Guinea – even though weapons like that aren’t allowed to owned by civilian organizations.
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