The armory of the police station at Kundiawa, in Chimbu province, is a blue shipping container shoved up against a back door and secured with padlocks. As are rogue police and soldiers. In 1995, when Wakon was a police commander in the Central Highlands, he hunted down a police officer who had walked out of his post with his weapon to join his tribe in a fight. The difficulty of keeping tabs on these weapons is illustrated by the movements of the M-16 held in the Eastern Highlands village. The rifle was stolen last year from a prison at remote Kainantu.
Villagers say an escapee took a homemade shotgun back to the jail and robbed the armory.
Now roaming the Eastern Highlands with a band of criminals, he traded the M-16 to the village. P.N.G.'s new prisons director, Richard Sikani, suspects collusion in the Kainantu theft. Sikani, who was previously attached to the National Intelligence Organisation, says he knows the names of corrupt prison officers behind certain weapons disappearances. An audit of Correctional Institution Service armories has been ordered. Having factory-made weapons to exchange for the drug can make the trade even more lucrative for buyers.