Tonga's No. 1 Criminal In
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
Gaol Again
From Our Own Correspondent
Nuku’Alofa. June 16.
TUPOU Ngata, one of the Kingdom's most hardened criminals, received a 7 years’ sentence at the recent sessions of the Supreme Court for house breaking and larceny. In April Ngata and an accomplice, Moses Huni, who was sentenced to 3 years for his share of the crime, broke into the Government dyna mite shed at Siumafoa’uta and stole about 60 cases of gelignite with detonators and fuse. The loot was taken on Hums father’s truck and hidden in caves to be later peddled to Tongan fishermen who prize the stuff as a quick and effective method of catching fish. Fortunately, smart police work resulted in the appre hension of the two offenders with almost the whole of the loot.
Ngata was released only last year aftei serving about 15 years in gaol. During his prison life he participated in several prison breaks. On one occasion he escaped to the island of ’Eua in a canoe, where he defied police searchers for weeks by hiding in the wild and almost inaccessible parts of the island.