Authorities have made it clear that any foreigner who is found to be of threat to National Security will be removed from Papua New Guinea.
This is in accordance with Prime Minister James Marape’s warning earlier to any foreigners living and doing business in the country to respect and abide by PNG’s laws.
Minister for Immigration and Border Security, Westly Nukundi made these comments following the deportation of a Fifth person of Bangladesh origin a fortnight ago.
Belal Hossain who was detained at the Bomana Immigration Detention Centre for over a month was presented his deportation order at the Jackson’s International Airport by the Immigration Taskforce Team.
According to a statement from the Minister, Hossain was operating a tucker-shop business, Adil Holdings Limited at 9-Mile Kela Mountain in NCD.
Officials have found that the deportee has breached labour and I-P-A laws and consequently immigration laws.
Hossain and four others deported previous weeks were all part of a Human smuggling racket that is now being investigated by authorities.
Minister Nukundj said investors are welcome to do business in PNG however; they must be responsible and abide by the laws.
Those businesses must comply with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) Regulations and pay tax to the government for doing business in the country.
“We are executing the directives and visions of our Prime Minister to Take Back PNG. Those that have been deported have been found to have breached immigration and labour laws and have operated businesses under false pretext and are of high risk to the security of this country”, Nukundj explains.
The minister also emphasised that Papua New Guineans’ found to have been harbouring these people will face the consequences of their actions.
All five deported are part of the Twenty (20) that were apprehended and interrogated by an inter-agency team comprise of officials from Immigration, Labour and Police under their operations called ‘Operation Restoration’.
A total of 20 have been apprehended by officials in a joint operation in Port Moresby in February this year.
Operation Restoration by the Immigration Task-Force Team commenced right after Prime Minister James Marape’s visit to Immigration and Citizenship Authority (ICA) office on January 13th, 2020.
During that visit, the PM said his Government will move swiftly to address the issue of illegal immigrants and their illegal business activities once and for all.
The Prime Minister had issued a warning to any foreigner living and doing business illegally in the country to voluntarily pack-up and leave before authorities caught up with them.
Meantime, Minister for Immigration and Border Security said, this exercise has started in Port Moresby and will continue to other centers of the country in the coming weeks.
Minister Nukundj has emphasise that Marape-Steven Government is serious about addressing this issue, in line with its slogan of “Take Back PNG”.
NBC News
