Two men convicted for illegally crossing the SI-PNG border

The Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Choiseul Province Superintendent Vincent Eria welcomes the court decision by the Taro Magistrates Court which convicted two men, 42 and 44 years old, for illegal border crossing on 13 May 2019.

PPC Eria says, “I welcome the Taro Magistrates Court ruling on 13 May 2019 that two adult men from Solomon Islands were convicted on illegal border crossing from Solomon Islands (SI) territory into Papua New Guinea (PNG) territory early last month.”

He explains: “The conviction came after an intensive joint investigation between the RSIPF Transnational Crime Unit (TCU), Solomon Islands Immigration, Customs, and the Papua New Guinea police on Bougainville and Immigration who worked together into investigating the two men who travelled to Buka on Bougainville on 7 April 2019 without any proper travelling documents from Solomon Islands Immigration.”

“The two defendants were convicted by the Court and each were fined $3,000.00 on charges of failing to obtain permission to depart Solomon Islands contravening the Immigration Act 2012 and failing to surrender a passport or travel identity document to an immigration officer as stipulated in the Passport Act,” says PPC Eria.

He adds: “This was the first offence in Choiseul Province regarding alleged illegal border crossing. I hope the conviction will send a clear message to those who by-pass the laws which govern the entry and departure from Solomon Islands. It is an individual’s obligation to obtain permission before departing Solomon Islands, and to surrender his/her passport or travel identity document to an immigration officer.”

“I would like to thank our counterparts from Bougainville police and Immigration, our officers from Custom and Immigration and our TCU for their hard work and working together in sharing information that led to the successful conviction of the case,” says PPC Eria.