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In Bougainville, the 'wanted boys' are known for robbing cashed-up visitors. Police are allegedly orchestrating it (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Chiefs and community leaders in Bougainville want an investigation into police officers over their alleged involvement in arming and orchestrating an organised crime gang that targeted people who had travelled to the autonomous region to buy guns and gold.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

from the article:

These policemen do all the planning and then engage the 'wanted boys' to carry out the main criminal holdups … even the firearms belong to them," the leaders claim in a petition sent to the government.
Mike Piau is one of the "wanted boys".
He said he was bashed up and arrested by police in 2020 when he refused to take part in a robbery.

"They almost shot me with a pistol. When I didn't do what they asked, they turned on me and arrested me and beat me up," he told the ABC.

Mr Piau told the ABC he had been approached by police because he was an influential resistance fighter during the Bougainville crisis from 1988 until 1998.

At the time, local dissatisfaction with a major mining project sparked an armed uprising against the PNG government in which 20,000 people died.

Other "wanted boys" the ABC has spoken with say they are now hiding out in villages to escape arrest.

Mr Piau said the alleged police misconduct could hurt Bougainville's independence bid.
"These sort of men will create bigger problems which will impact our road to independence," he told the ABC.

Despite the 2019 referendum, which was non-binding, Bougainville's fate lies in the hands of the PNG parliament, which is yet to make a decision on the issue.

The Bougainville Police Service still operates under the auspices of the Royal Papua New Guinea constabulary and is largely dependent on funding sort of coming through the PNG government system," he said.

Dr Dinnen said there was some community mistrust in the police following the Bougainville crisis.

When tensions began to break out in the late 80s, the PNG police deployed mobile squads to the region.
They were later accused of serious human rights abuses.

"There's a kind of memory of that other kind of policing, that Bougainvilleans did not want to duplicate or replicate," Dr Dinnen said.

Dr Peake said Australia had a role to play in training the PNG police, which it has done for decades.

#bougainville #png #PapuaNewGuinea #pasifika #violence #corruption