REPORTS have surfaced of road blocks being set up along the south road near U’ura village, Central Kwara’ae over the past week.
Reports reaching this paper claimed that a good number of youths who claimed to be doing road maintenance in the area are believed to be demanding vehicles from $50 to $100 dollars before being allowed to go through the area.
The road maintenance of U’ura road, four to five kilometers from Auki town done by the youths includes refilling the pot holes only.
Witnesses said that drums and timbers have been placed in the road to stop vehicles passing.
“All the vehicles that drove pass were demanded to pay up to $50 and $100 dollars or be forced to turn back.
“They also demanded that the fee was only for one way, so public transports that go over to Auki and back have to pay for both ways or else would not be allowed to pass,” a truck driver speaking to this paper said.
Other reports also claimed that vehicles from Our Telekom and Bemobile were also stopped and demanded to be $200 before going through the road.
The Solomon Star over the weekend visited the area and were also demanded to pay up the fee, despite attempts by our reporters to explain to them the reason of us being there.
Malaita PPC (Provincial Police Commander), Alfred Uiga informed this paper that they (Police) were not aware of any road blocks of such over the past week.
Mr Uiga also said that Police have not recently patrolled the area as no reports of any road blocks had reached their office.
“Police patrols did not go through U’ura over the weekend as no reports have been received.
“We will only look into the matter if reports do come in,” Mr Uiga said.
By JEREMY INIFIRI
In Auki