By PISAI
GUMAR
A DAWN fire
gutted a shop at Eriku in Lae, Morobe, yesterday as hundreds of opportunists
ransacked adjacent shops and took off with thousands of kina worth of
goods, The National reports.
Looters watching and waiting to raid the neighbouring Raumai 18 wholesale as fire continues to destroy Lotus Trading at Eric Woo in Lae yesterday morning. |
The fire,
which started at about 5.30am, razed through Lotus Enterprise and, by 6am,
hundreds of people, mainly looters from the nearby settlements of Boundary Road ,
Buimo, the Miles and Kamkumung, had gathered.
Outnumbered
police and security guards fired teargas into the air to get the pressing crowd
away from the shops’ front, all in vain eventually.
It was not
long before the looters broke their way into the two neighbouring shops, PC Woo
and Raumai 18, and, in the process, reportedly raping a woman shop assistant.
Members of
the fire brigade, who are about a kilometre away, arrived more than a hour
later after flames had engulfed the building and could do very little to save
anything.
Lae’s
iconic trading companies PC Woo, Papindo, Pelgens and Andersons are all on the
same block, adjacent to each other.
More
onlookers and opportunists arrived at Eriku as soon as the PMVs began operating
at 6.30am.
Looters
were seen carrying knife wounds and other injuries apparently suffered while
breaking into the shops to ransack them.
All manner
of goods, from cartons of tinned foods, bags of rice, frozen goods, household
electrical goods, white goods and clothing accessories to cartons of beer, were
removed.
Eriku’s
surrounding streets were dotted with people unabashedly scurrying to get home
with their stolen cargo.
Although
Guard Dog and Pacific Corporate Security guards were outnumbered at the other
shops, they bravely prevented the looters from entering Papindo, Pelgens and
Andersons supermarkets.
Crowds of
men were also dispersed by police mid-morning at shops near the main market,
Voco Point and Top
Town , with the morning
melee at Eriku forcing many businesses and schools to close for the day.
By dusk
yesterday, the threat of more shop break-ins at Eriku was imminent with
hundreds of men still milling about belligerently.
Many
workers, who would have caught public transport through the Eriku bus stop, had
to demand employers to drop them off at home out of fear.
Soldiers
from Igam Barracks had to drive into town, armed in a troop carrier, to take
their children and spouses home last night.
As more and more cracks emerge in a society fractured by corruption, incompetence and greed, we will see more and more of these stories, and they won't stop at looting stores, sooner or later they'll be looking for the architects of PNG's social collapse with bush knives, axes and shotguns as well. Somare had best hope he can get to his luxury jet and flee before the angry mob haul him out into the street for summary justice. The day is coming.
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