Curfew on police barracks in PNG after scandal

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-11 16:46

PORT MORESBY -- A nightime curfew has been placed on all police barracks in the Papua New Guinea capital after investigators discovered a recent bank robbery was planned inside one of the barracks, local media reported.

The 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew will last for three months, The National newspaper said on Monday.

Metropolitan police commander Fred Yakasa said he hoped the curfew would minimise unlawful activities inside the eight barracks, which he said had become safe havens and points of contact for criminals and their associates.

"Wild parties, consumption of illegal drugs and other unlawful activities had given the police barracks a very bad name. This must stop," Yakasa told the newspaper.

"I have an obligation to many hardworking, committed and dedicated police officers to ensure the integrity of the force and its barracks are maintained," he said.

"Now we have cockroaches, rats, pigs, dogs, devils, chickens and you name it; it is a place for just about anybody to walk in and out, and I intend to stop these kinds of unlawful and illegal movements in and out of (police) barracks."

Papua New Guinean police were ordered in July to shoot criminals wearing police uniforms, after gangs posing as police robbed two banks.

The South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea has been wracked by crime for decades, with urban gangs called Raskols dominating large parts of the capital Port Moresby, and police shoot-outs with criminals commonplace.