A local gang from a village in Papua New Guinea’s remote Southern Highlands kidnapped an Australian archaeology professor at gunpoint, gistpeople reports
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The Queensland professor and three local university graduates were kidnapped on Sunday morning, February 19, by around 20 armed ‘thugs’ demanding 3.5 million Kina ($1.43 million AUD) in ransom.
The kidnapping occurred two weeks after armed separatists in West Papua kidnapped a New Zealand pilot, whom Papua police believe they have located and have dispatched a rescue team to find.
The professor had only recently returned to the tiny village of Fogoma’iu in the Mount Bosavi region after working on a project to study ancient remains on the Great Papuan Plateau.
The professor, who is in his fifties, and his fellow hostages are reportedly’safe at the moment’ as the PNG Government negotiates their release, with the kidnappers being treated ‘fairly’ if the captives were released unharmed.
However, if this is not the case, police will ‘use lethal force,’ according to PNG Police Commissioner David Manning in a statement.
Mr. Manning described the gunmen as ‘opportunists’ and the situation as ‘delicate,’ adding that ‘our specialized security force personnel will use whatever means necessary against the criminals, up to and including the use of lethal force, in order to provide for the safety and security of the people being held’.
He stated that the abductors were being offered a “way out” and would face prosecution if they released the hostages, but “failure to comply and resist arrest could cost these criminals their lives.”
According to volunteer community development worker Sally Lloyd, who said he was ‘keen to have the matter resolved obviously,’ the Australian scientist is reportedly attempting to bargain down the ransom amount.
Local missionaries who had communicated with the professor via satellite phone confirmed to the PNG government that he and the other hostages were still alive.
