The arrest of a senior police inspector and a constable in a Port Moresby hotel room has again shined a spotlight on the integrity of Papua New Guinea's police force in addition to the nation's burgeoning methamphetamine crisis.
The two officers were taken into custody along with three other individuals during a raid where they were allegedly found possessing and consuming the street drug.
Police released a statement that its forensic team verified that the substance found was meth.
National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Warrick Simatab acknowledged that a tip-off from the public led to the arrest.
"This operation is a direct result of excellent intelligence work by my police team," he said.
Supt Simatab has since issued a stern warning to other officers, saying that those who "act as criminals in disguise in police uniform will be treated like other criminals".
He is also flagging a "summary termination" of the two officers from the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.
The five suspects are detained at Boroko police cells and are awaiting formal charges, but the police pair are expected to be prosecuted as civilians.
One of the policemen was already facing unrelated disciplinary and criminal allegations prior to being busted with methamphetamine.
The arrests are a stark illustration of an issue that has grown in recent years.
The country's geographic location and porous borders have made it an attractive transit point for international crime syndicates to transfer drugs – particularly methamphetamine and cocaine – on to Australia.
For many in PNG, the alleged involvement of police participating in the drug trade confirmed a long-held suspicion that the very individuals tasked with combating it are also participants.
While major international trafficking plots, like the 611kgs cocaine shipment linked to a crashed Cessna back in 2020, have made headlines, the methamphetamine problem appears to be deeply entrenched at a community level, fuelling a rise in violent crime and social decay in PNG.
The link between international and local distribution was recently highlighted by the Australian Federal Police arrest of Lae-based businesswoman Mei Lin.
Ms Lin is accused of personally facilitating the transport of 71kg of methamphetamine from a remote PNG airstrip into Australia.
The incident also comes just a week after the detention of three police officers in Port Moresby in connection with an alleged rape of a 22-year-old woman inside a police station.
The cases involving officers of the has drawn the ire of the United Nations that described the arrest as a "grave breach of public trust" and has also ignited intense scrutiny of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary's recruitment and disciplinary processes.
PNG Police Commissioner David Manning confirmed one of the officers arrested in the case had been convicted and sentenced to more than 14 years in prison, but he was never "officially" dismissed from the force, going on to describe it as a dereliction of duty by his then-supervisors.
Superintendent Simatab has said the drug arrests are a necessary step in a wider clean-up of the force for the public's trust in the institution.
"The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary is unwavering in its commitment to addressing law and order challenges and is working tirelessly to win back and maintain public trust," he said.
"We are actively separating the bad apples from the good."
