Could pose a huge national security for govts

Alfred Sasako



 
ISLANDS NATIONS OF THE PACIFIC have long been described in some donor quarters as a conglomerate of beggars, an apt description international crime syndicates are happy to explore in order to expand their operations.
  Recent arrests of foreign nationals around the region appear to suggest that these syndicates are gaining grounds.
  The arrests also point to the possibility that some syndicates, including the much-feared Chinese mafia known as the Triads, may have already established a foothold in the region, posing huge national security and related problems for many governments.
  Other players, it seems, are closely “testing the waters” as it were, looking at loopholes in the law or are head-hunting individuals they could recruit as field operatives.
  In a way, infiltration by international crime syndicates is a rising king tide in a region whose survival is being threatened by every phenomenon known to man, including climate change, which has been blamed on human activities.
  The threat from organised crime is just as real. In Papua New Guinea, for example, two Chinese nationals were arrested in Port Moresby in January for attempting to murder a prominent businessman, according to The National newspaper.
  Police were quick to link the attempted murder to an alleged under-world Chinese triad operating in PNG. The suspects are from China’s Fujian province, police said.
  Although one of the men worked in a Port Moresby nightclub, neither speaks English nor Tok Pisin. The other person was unemployed. Police were also investigating the men’s entry into PNG.
  Their target was businessman Jason Tan, who escaped with injuries to his arm. He is the managing director of Erima J-Mart, on the outskirt of suburban Port Moresby.
  Tan was shot at five times as he drove into his Paga Hill home, Acting Assistant Police Commissioner, Awan Sete, told a media conference.
  The fact that the attempted murder took place in broad daylight suggests that members of organised crimes are armed, dangerous and daring.
  Here’s how Acting Assistant Commissioner Sete related the Port Moresby incident: “It was 3:30pm on Saturday. As Tan was about to enter the driveway of his home, five shots rang out. Although none was fatal, one bullet hit Tan on his arm. Tan immediately called the police who dispatched the Port Moresby’s Mobile Squad—the nation’s rapid response unit.
  “At Baruni, several kilometres from the scene of the shooting, the mobile squad intercepted a car with two men. In it, police also found two semi-automatic handguns and ammunitions.”
  Changjiang Gao, 36, and Xue Zhufu, 38, have been charged with attempted murder and were awaiting court appearance.
  The Chinese Embassy in Port Moresby was informed of the arrest shortly after the men were taken into custody.
  Sete said: “This latest incident confirms the existence of Asian triad operatives in Port Moresby.”
  One firearm, he said, was registered to an individual whom he refused to identify. Police were checking the ownership of the other gun.
  “Given that this attack came just a few weeks after an assassin’s attempt on Chief Ombudsman, Chronox Manek’s life, indicates that criminals are being used to assassinate people,” he said.
  “I reassure residents in Port Moresby that all measures will be taken to fight this ugly trend of crime.”
  Sete commended his men for their quick response in apprehending the suspects. At the same time, he appealed to the public to fight this growing crime trend.
  Metropolitan commander Chief Supt Fred Yakasa said he was worried about a new trend in crime in which people were being paid to kill.
  “It is a frightening situation. It is involving Asians against Asians, or Asians using Papua New Guineans to kill.
  “If the two Chinese suspects were not caught, people would have blamed the attack on Tan on Papua New Guineans. They may even link it to the anti-Asian emails that had been going around,” Chief Supt Yakasa said.
  But police have an open mind over the motive for the crime.
  “This (murder attempt) could be linked to business jealousy. We have to be concerned about the trend,” Chief Supt Yakasa said.
  Police, he said, had identified two suspects in connection with the attempt on Manek’s life.
  In Vanuatu, an elderly Chinese businessman was threatened with pinch bars and robbed of Vt2 million [US$20,145] cash savings during the Christmas period, according to the Daily Post newspaper.
  The theft occurred at the home of the businessman two days before Christmas eve.
  According to the newspaper, a number of thieves armed with pinch bars and other hand tools threatened the businessman and demanded that he handed them Vt4 million cash [about US$40, 000].
  Fearing for his life, the Chinese told them he did not have that kind of money and handed over the keys to his safety box which held Vt2 million cash which the thieves took before they fled the scene. Police are not saying much except to confirm that investigations were underway.