Robbery

The Post-Courier newsroom robbed, armed men escape with payroll

By Sam Vulum

Chasing and reporting crime stories on the streets of Papua New Guinea is one thing but having to stare into the barrel of a gun in your own newsroom is an experience many Post \Courier journalists will remember for a long time.

The newspaper’s offices in Port Moresby became a target of the country’s escalating law and order problem on December 19.

Despite the nationwide curfew, which expired on January 8, criminals continued their reign of terror. The Post-Courier incident of crime was one among many which occurred during the period of cur few.

Armed men invaded the offices of the paper and escaped with a substantial amount of money, including part of the company’s payroll.

Journalist Brian Tobia, who feels that he is still alive through sheer luck, com mented after the robbery; “I was on the phone talking to a contact when I heard a colleague say there was a holdup and a man came through the door, waved a pis tol at us and ordered us to lie on the floor.

“I took the entire episode as a joke and just stared at this man pointing a gun at me. It did not register in.my head that it was an armed robbery because I was on the phone the entire time.

“I did not notice my colleagues getting down on their hands and knees, and just looked at the man pointing the gun at me and ordering that I do the same.

“After awhile, the gunman turned and went outside to join the rest of the gang who, by then, already had the money.”

The incident happened so fast that it was over by the time anyone thought

about contacting the police.

Employees were caught by surprise

soon after 1 pm when four men armed with two guns, a bush knife and a pistol walked into the reception area and beckoned to an unsuspecting secretary to open the elec tronic door to the accounts and adminis tration offices.

An employee, who entered the recep tion area with them, said he took them for telephone repairmen when they signalled to the secretary from outside a transparent glass window, indicating to her that they wanted to check the telephones.

He said as soon as the door had been opened with the push of a button on the inside, one of the men grabbed him, held a pistol to his head and led him through the door.

Three of them entered with the hostage while the other went into the newsroom and ordered reporters to lie on the floor. In the accounts and administration offices, one of the armed men held a gun to the secretary’s head and the other a knife against an expatriate accounts officer’s throat.

The employee who entered with them as well as the others in the offices were ordered to lie on the floor while the expa triate accounts officer was forced at knife point towards the pay office where the robbers demanded and were given the

payroll.

They escaped in a waiting vehicle. No one was hurt.

The management could not release information on how much was stolen but the amount included cash and cheques which were to have been banked before the close of business on December 19.

Police, who arrived some time later, had not made any arrests at the time of writ

ing. ■