Alpers, Philip and Conor Twyford. 2003 ‘Stockpiles and Trafficking in the Pacific.’ Small Arms in the Pacific; Occasional Paper No. 8, p. 20. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 31 March

Relevant contents

Leakage From Legal Stocks

While theft from civilian owners is a concern, many of the firearms that surface in armed crime in Papua New Guinea once belonged to the state.

'Leakage' from police and defence force armouries is a commonly reported occurrence. In December 2000, for instance, almost 100 police firearms were reported missing, including ten machine guns, 32 M-16 automatic assault rifles, 25 SIG Sauer pistols, and five semi-automatic shotguns, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. (20)

An audit the following year estimated that as many as 600 firearms were missing from the police armoury. (21)

The PNGDF fares no better. In the space of just 12 months, two raids were conducted on its armouries -- one in March 2001, at PNGDF Headquarters, and one in March 2002 at Moem Barracks, in Wewak. In both cases, high-powered military weapons and ammunition were stolen (Maclellan, 2001).

References:

(20) The weapons were ordered from and delivered by ZD Industries in Port Moresby, but never picked up and recorded in the central record of the constabulary of the Quartermaster (The Australian, 2000).

(21) Interview with Frank Clair, Australian Federal Police, Australian High Commission, Port Moresby, 3 June 2002.

Maclellan, Nic. 2001. 'Defence Force Mutiny in Papua New Guinea.' Pacific News Bulletin, Vol. 16, No. 4. April, p. 7.

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