Enga shame

Teachers among students caught drinking homebrew

TWO secondary school teachers and 20 students have been arrested by Wabag police in Enga for allegedly drinking homebrew, The National reports.

Wabag police last Friday arrested 12 Grade 12 students at Pausa Secondary in Wapenamanda and another eight Grade 12 students with two teachers in Wabag town for drinking homebrew and behaving disorderly in public.

Provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari said the students from Pausa, a Lutheran church-run school, stored homebrew in their dormitories and consumed them straight after their national examinations.

He said the students were drinking homebrew and behaving in a disorderly manner on a school truck while on their way to Wabag town when policemen intercepted and arrested 12 of them.

Policemen searched the students and confiscated a number of 500ml containers of homebrew hidden inside their bags.

Lakari said the police were on their way to Pausa Secondary to attend an assault case reported by the school headmaster when they came across the drunken students.

The assault complaint allegedly involved a teacher from Southern Highlands attacking another male teacher from Eastern Highlands.

Police brought the students to the Wabag police cells where they were locked up. They later searched the town and arrested eight more students and two teachers.

Lakari said the students were drinking with their teachers, and were behaving in a disorderly and threatening manner in town when police caught them.

They were held for four hours and later released with a warning.

He urged Grades 10 and 12 students to go back to their villages after completing their national examinations to assist their parents rather than engaging in shameful acts.

Also in Wabag, police raided a house at Pawas buai market near the town and confiscated 40l of homebrew last Thursday.

It was alleged that some Grade 12 students had bought fruits, sugar and yeast for the owner of the house.

Lakari told The National that after receiving a tip-off, policemen raided the house and confiscated the homebrew, 49 empty 500ml containers, a gas cylinder bottle, rubber hose, buckets and other items.

He said that the people involved in the production of the homebrew fled when police arrived.

However, their identities were known and police were investigating.

Lakari said this was the first time Enga police had confiscated a large quantity of materials allegedly used in the production of homebrew in the province.