TWO women from Lisbon, Portugal, have been charged by PNG

TWO women from Lisbon, Portugal, have been charged by PNG police with one count each of trafficking drugs after they were found carrying 15.2 kilograms of cocaine worth K13 million at the Jacksons

International Airport in Port Moresby on Saturday, December 7, bound for Brisbane, Australia, between noon and

2pm.

Both women aged 20 and 23 were charged under the Controlled Substance Act 2021 and are now detained at the

Bomana Immigration Centre outside Port Moresby, as investigations continue into the movement of the drug.

A taxi driver has also been brought in to be questioned after he allegedly transported the women during the movement of the drugs before both women tried to leave the country.

The women who arrived into PNG on December 2, 2024, had travelled in from Luxemburg in Europe after they were allegedly contacted by a man who allegedly facilitated and paid for their travel into the country.

Crossing Europe, United States, Asia and Australia, both women spent two months travelling from Luxemburg to Germany, across to Los Angeles, down to Sydney before crossing the sea to Fiji and then back to Sydney and then finally arriving in the country.

Both women spent only five days before they were given the packages to smuggle out of PNG.

According to information received by the Post-Courier, the women were met by someone who picked them up in a taxi, took them to another hotel where the packages were allegedly picked up and then taken back to the hotel where the two women were staying.

The packages were handed to the women who took them to a local hotel in the city and unpacked and repacked the packages into their bags.🇵🇬✨

📝: PNGNEWS

📷: VIAFACEBOOK

Indonesian human rights lawyer wins prize for West Papua work

Veronica Koman, after being awarded Australia's
Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights
Award at a ceremony in Sydney. Photo: Facebook / Veronica Koman

An Indonesian lawyer being pursued by the state has won a human rights award for shining "a light on violations of the rights" of West Papuans.

Veronica Koman was awarded Australia's Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award on Wednesday at a ceremony in Sydney.

Ms Koman is now living in Australia after receiving threats in Indonesia, where police have sought an Interpol Red Notice for the lawyer.

She's accused of spreading false information online but denies all wrongdoing, saying the claims are fabricated.

Ms Koman dedicated her award to the victims of a security crackdown in West Papua due to riots taking place there.

"Especially the dozens who have died at the hands of security forces, and the 22 political prisoners charged with treason over the past couple of months," she said in an acceptance speech on Wednesday.

"I have the West Papuan people to thank for changing my life. They have taught me how to be resilient, how to keep fighting, how to keep going in circumstances where many outsiders may feel they have to stop."

Marc Purcell, the chief executive of the Australian Council for International Development, which awards the prize, said the award represented "the strength and bravery of all people who defend the human rights of West Papuans, who will not be silenced, and who will work towards a world where the human rights of all are protected and upheld".

"Veronica has shone a light on violations of the rights of the West Papuan people at great personal cost," he said.

He also called on Australia to protect Ms Koman and urge Indonesia to drop the charges against her.

In September, Ms Koman was named as a "suspect" by Indonesian authorities who accused her of provoking recent unrest, after she published reports on the protests and on a racist attack against Papuan students in Java.

Regarding Ms Koman's claims about receiving death threats and other intimidating messages, a spokesman for East Java police, which has been investigating Koman, denied that officers would be behind such actions and told Reuters that Ms Koman had made many enemies.

The Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award is presented annually to an individual or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to advancing human rights.