By ANDREW ALPHONSE of The National in Tari
A GANG leader was rounded up and axed to dead allegedly by angry Tengo villagers from Margarima district yesterday while three of his criminal members were arrested by police and paraded naked in public in Tari, Southern Highlands province (pictured).
Tari police said the notorious gang members have being involved in armed hold-up of vehicles at the infamous Ambua Gap section of the
Police said several mothers and girls have been raped while money and valuables worth thousands of kina have also been stolen by this gang at the road block.
Several attempts by police to have them captured have been futile.
The gang’s latest attack happened on Monday afternoon at about 5pm when they held up a passing 15-seater PMV bus.
Another utility vehicle loaded with some men from Margarima arrived minutes later to the scene and attempted to rescue the PMV bus and its passengers when a member of the gang opened fired and shot one of the Margarima man who died instantly.
Angry relatives of the deceased identified as David Sore, of Kungu village in Margarima, immediately retaliated by mounting a road block at Tengo village and searching all vehicles passing through to Tari.
The relatives alleged that the gang was from Tigibi village on the foot of Mt Ambua.
The National travelled on the same road in another PMV bus from Mt Hagen into Tari, 20 minutes after the incident had happened and witnessed the happenings.
Angry relatives of the deceased forced all vehicles passing through to stop while they made a search for any people from Tigibi that could be in the vehicles.
At around 5am yesterday, the Tengo tribesmen armed with bush knives, bows and arrows and homemade guns went in pursuit of the gang into the Ambua jungles.
The tribesmen numbering more than 50 tracked the gang to the foot of
In the raid, the relatives burnt down several homes and hacked to death the gang leader whose identity is not known.
The other 15 gang members fled while three of them were not so lucky and were surrounded by the locals.
The locals then alerted Tari-based police mobile squad (MS) 09 unit and under the command of chief Sgt Peter Buka, the MS09 unit went into the area and managed to apprehend the three gang members.
As the MS09 members rounded up the three men, members of the local communities who had been victims of the road blocks stripped the trio naked and tied them to the front of the police vehicles.
The trio were shown to the public along the way as police drove them for about 15km into Tari town.
Victims of the gang attack at Ambua threw missiles, rocks and shouted abuse at the trio as they were driven into the town and shown to the public at Tari police stations for victims of the road blocks to come forward and give statements to the police.
At the police station, hundreds of Tari and Hela people rushed to get a glimpse of the gang members while others beat up the trio with sticks and stones.
Blood could be seen sprouting out of the three men’s heads while several bruises were evident on their naked bodies from the public’s beatings.
Several Tari and Hela community members commended the MS09 unit for capturing the criminals and expressed a sigh of relief that at last some of the bad men who had been robbing and attacking them at Ambua have been captured.
Police identified the three gang members as from Pureni and Yaluba villages in
The three are currently locked up at Tari police station cell.
Police said they would conduct further investigations and questioning.
Police said the trio were likely to face a number of charges including wilful murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal road blocks, rape, attempted rape, stealing, in possession of offensive weapons, threatening and more.
Tari police station commander chief inspector Michael Welly confirmed the incidents and commended the police MS09 unit and the Tigibi community for their part in apprehending the three men.
Police are confident of arresting the other 15 gang members now that three of them have been caught.
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