THE PNG government has banned the issue of firearms to prison guards because so many guns are being sold to criminals.
Prison guards in Papua New Guinea are issued with semi-automatic rifles to try to keep prisoners from breaking out of the nation's insecure jails.
But some senior wardens, who are involved with crime gangs, trade weapons and regularly assist prisoners to escape.
This week, prisons' minister Peter Oresi announced a ban on the issue of firearms to wardens following an investigation which revealed most rifles were lost, stolen, or simply unaccounted for.
"In recent cases we had officers collaborating with criminals to draw firearms from armouries and ammunitions stolen by officers with questionable excuses, even to the extent of falsifying information to obtain them," Oresi said in a statement.
"In most cases it is officers in responsible positions, such as commanding officers, armourers or security officers who abuse their positions to obtain (this) deadly equipment."
Oresi said there was evidence the firearms were being used to commit crimes throughout the provinces.
However, senior executives of the prison service would still be allowed to carry firearms because their personal security was so at risk.
These are serious issues and happens with Police, Defence and CIS. Its simple, investigate and prosecute them.. By just talking, we are encouraging more to happen thus the executive and judiciary systems become weak. In addition, we are building a strong secretive culture in these organizations
Post Courier