Madang Police arrested a 15 year old male student with a homemade gun in the Wangol settlement recently.
Madang Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Supt Mazuc Rubiang said the grade 5 student was walking along a road in the settlement when policemen on a crime-prevention patrol in a car spotted him acting suspiciously.
When he saw the police car approaching, he tried to hide the firearm by passing it to a woman next to him.
But the policemen saw this and conducted a body search on him.
They found a homemade stapler pistol and arrested him.
Supt Rubiang said the boy was on his way to commit a crime when he ran into the police.
He said many children were today, involved in criminal activities because of parental neglect.
I am not surprised when my men informed me about the arrest of the schoolboy.
This has been happening here and they are below the age of 20.
I am sad because they are too young to be in trouble with the law.
Most of such juvenile delinquents live in the settlements.
We must all do something to address this before they grow up and is too late to change or control them.
They are involved in armed robbery, bag snatching, burglaries and even sex-related crimes.
Community leaders in settlements should start identifying juvenile delinquents and counsel them to the right path in life.
– Madang Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Supt Mazuc Rubiang