Pubdate: Thu, 2 Apr 1998
Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Contact:  Charles Miranda

DRUG TRADE WITH PNG FUNDED BY OUR GUNS

AUSTRALIAN guns are being swapped for drugs in a growing trade which is
arming Papua New Guinean rebels and seeing high-grade cannabis flood the
local market.

The Daily Telegraph has learned there has been an increase in the black
market sale of weapons to PNG since the introduction of new national gun
laws and the end of the gun buyback scheme.

Police suspect the major off-shore buyers are rebel groups, such as the
Free Papua Movement, and local criminal gangs.

According to a Federal Police intelligence report, the outlawed weapons are
being bought and swapped with Papua New Guineans and other islanders for
large quantities of cannabis.

Criminal syndicates in Australia then distribute the drugs along the
eastern seaboard.

Recent seizures included a .357 Magnum revolver, pump-action shotgun,
pistols, SKK and SKS Chinese assault rifles and hundreds of kilos of
cannabis.

There are currently more than a dozen Australians and PNG locals facing
court for possession of some of the weapons.

The seizures were made by the AFP and other agencies in Australia and
throughout the complex archipelago of islands including Badu, Daru, Horn
and Boigu.

AFP Northern Region general manager Mick Keelty said while drugs entered
the country everywhere, including Sydney Airport, the Torres Strait was of
concern.

He said PNG had an established market for firearms and the organised trade
was hard to detect because of geography.

PNG's western province is only a few kilometres from the Cape and shallow
waters are easily crossed.

"The trafficking of cannabis in exchange for firearms following the
completion of the buyback scheme has seen a marked rise in the exchange
price," he said.

"But these are not the only concerns of a law-enforcement nature. The fact
that an infrastructure exists to facilitate cultivation, packaging,
transporting and distribution should be a warning not to be complacent."

The AFP will now base an agent on Thursday Island and conduct a series of
island operations involving police and Customs officers from Australia and
PNG.

AFP intelligence also suggested problems were being compounded by lack of
PNG police resources and an expected tide of refugees, as a result of the
Asian economic meltdown, landing in Australia.

Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone said steps were being taken to close the
guns, drugs and illegal migrants breaches.

"We are concerned by that and we are taking appropriate steps to stop the
practice," she said yesterday.