HOME MADE GUNS BECOMING A REAL THREAT

 

DRUNK MAN LEADS COPS TO ILLEGAL GUNSMITH

JONES* stumbled along the footpath. He was tipsy. He let loose at the local stray titiri dog that crossed his path.

Even with its scabies covered furless skin and bones, Brownie* still had the guile to sidestep his drunk owner.

Jones flopped and flipped over the drainage. Muttering, cursing, he picked himself up and surveyed the damage. His pants was soaked in sewer shit and his half bottle of 'homebrew' was almost emptied by the fall.

As he cupped it to his mouth for a final swig, a cruiser slowed to a halt beside him.

Someone inside barked: ''paps, holim lo hap, noken muv!"

Jones froze, his bottle delivering the last droplet into his parched throat. The bottle remained upended in its eternal steady post.

This is Gerehu, once a sprawling suburb of Port Moresby’s Western grasslands.

Now it isn't as safe for anyone as it was in the 70s.

Crime is opportunistic, unemployment is high, drugs and home brewed alcohol are easily available.

Jones, a older male who still considers himself as a 'yut' to fit the unemployment profile, is struggling. 

And cheap homebrew, at k5 a plastic container, helps ease some of the pain.

Jones is not his real name. But his apprehension by Port Moresby Fox Unit before Easter points to the never ending story of Gerehu and its unemployed youths.

His arrest on consuming illegal home made alcohol, which is extremely toxic, in a public place led to an unlikely discovery.

Under questioning by the cops, Jones spills the beans on the brewer.

When Fox 101 springs a surprise visit on the illegal brewer, lo and behold, they stumble upon homebrew equipment and a surprising cache of home made firearms.

The 'gunsmith' from Central Province is alleged to have been making firearms for criminal gangs and also producing homebrew at his residence at Gerehu.

Police found that he had three homemade pistols, gun making equipment and accessories, homebrew making equipment and about two 20 litres of homebrew.

The evidence was collected and matter referred to the minor crimes office where investigations are ongoing.

 

Young men caught by police consuming alcohol in public. They were told to pour their beer into the nearby drain and warned not to repeat the same mistake.