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Cop shot during BSP Jackson Airport heistBy SAMSON KENDEMAN
A RESERVE policeman is recovering from a gunshot injury he sustained during the robbery of Bank South Pacific’s foreign exchange counter at Jackson International Airport in the early hours of Sunday morning.
NCD police operations commander Supt Andy Bawa yesterday said police were working round the clock to arrest the criminals involved in the robbery, in which a total of K57,000 was stolen.
Most of the stolen cash was in kina, along with a small quantity of foreign currency.
The BSP management yesterday expressed concern that this was the third robbery at the currency exchange counter in the last 10 years.
Police said the robbers managed to enter the international passenger terminal prior to its opening. At least one of them was armed with a pistol.
When the BSP staff and security personnel arrived, they passed through the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) security checks and proceeded to the BSP currency exchange counter with cash for the day’s business.
As they proceeded to the counter, CAA security opened the terminal and allowed other passengers to enter the terminal, police said.
Police said one criminal, who was hiding behind a partition, jumped out and shot the reserve policeman who was holding the cash.
The policeman fell to the ground, dropping the money and his pistol.
Another criminal appeared and picked up the money and the gun and fled to a waiting vehicle that was parked in the restricted parking zone at the front of the terminal.
The criminals were chased by CAA security, but escaped.
A BSP officer, who requested anonymity, told The National that the robbery was extremely violent, with the criminal without any hesitation shooting a police officer at very close range.
“It appeared from our preliminary report that the criminals were able to breach CAA security in the early hours of Sunday morning, gaining access to a secure area prior to the terminal opening where they were armed with pistols,” the officer said.
He claimed that the CAA security cameras were not fully operational.
“When the actual robbery was carried out, the terminal had just opened and foreign tourists witnessed the shooting.
“This must further seriously damage PNG’s image as a safe tourist destination.
“Despite recent statements suggesting crime rates were reducing, law and order is, in our opinion, a very serious growing problem affecting all regions in Papua New Guinea,” the officer added.
“BSP has now suffered a number of bank robberies at our branches over the last several months. All the criminals were armed with guns, some of these criminals remain at large, and a large amount of money remains missing.
“Now, in a highly visible place such as the international air terminal, money is stolen and a police officer is gunned down.
“When security cannot be guaranteed to the citizens of a city or town, then businesses such as banks will be forced to close their branches.
“BSP had closed Kerema, Bialla is temporarily closed and will only re-open when all those involved have been arrested and security significantly improved.
“BSP will be reviewing our security strategy to initiate measures to try to further improve the security and safety of our branches and staff,” the officer said.