Former drug supplier goes public with past

Perhaps his activities and reputation were not significant enough to match those of the Cali cocaine cartel kingpin of Columbia or the opium warlord of Burma but, in his own small way, he was a key player in one of the many mari juana-smuggling operations between Papua New Guinea and Australia reported in recent years. From Heganofi in the Eastern Highlands - a province reput ed to be a leading supplier of marijuana - the man, who pre ferred not to use his name for security reasons, has now given up his past life after being imprisoned twice for his activities.

Police busted the operation in 1992 and arrested the supplier and two expatriate acquaintances. One of the expatriates is still serving time in a PNG prison while the other has been placed on good behaviour bond and has returned to Australia.

The supplier has found employment and has been living a quiet life since his release from prison ini993. However, dis turbed by the increasing marijuana problems, he decided to go

public.

Youths take marijuana to give them courage and confidence to carry out illegal acts such as robberies and other criminal activities, he said, expressing concern at the new trend in the

marijuana business. Marijuana is no longer sold for mere cash but also for guns which are used in tribal fighting in the high lands.

The supplier began his activities in Heganofi in 1989 after learning of the huge sums of money other villagers were mak ing by selling marijuana.

He planted his first batch of marijuana between vegetables , harvesting them after three weeks.

He dried the leaves and prepared them for sale. Through friends, he was able to establish contact with the two expatriate

buyers in Port Moresby.

The man packed the dried marijuana in one-kilogram shop ping bags and made his way to Port Moresby for his first sale.

He sold the bags for K 250 (SUSI7S). This began what was to become regular trips to the capital for the next three years.

He estimates that he made more than K 1 million ($U5712.000) before he was caught.

Before travelling to Port Moresby, he would ensure someone was at the airport to pick him up, after which he would try and head straight for the buyers, dropping off the drugs and collect ing the money.

He would then check in to a hotel, count the cash and book himself on a flight out of Port Moresby the next day. He doesn’t know what was usually done with the marijuana afterwards but, on one occasion, he recalls one of the buyers telling him that about 200 bags had been safely stacked away waiting to be trans ported out of the country. The operation was professionally organised with the supplier having contacts all over the New Guinea mainland. In Port Moresby, he had a good number of fol lowers, who acted as security guards every time he was in town.

The man said that in his heyday, he travelled around with a lot of money. To display his wealth at that time, he folded news paper pages into bundles and shoved them into his pockets.

However, all that money is now gone .

He is back to where he started from after using the little sav ings he had. Some of the money he collected, he distributed to other villagers who he had helped to sell marijuana. Some used the money to open up small tradestores, some bought vehicles and some spent it on feasts. ■