Papua New Guinea's deputy police commissioner, Simon Kauba, says gun smuggling in PNG is a multi-million dollar business which police are powerless to deal with.
Parliamentarians last week raised concerns at the build up of firearms, especially in the highlands provinces, on the eve of the election.
The National newspaper reports Mr Kauba saying that while they have prosecuted some gun smugglers over the years, there is no guarantee the crime would stop because those involved in the smuggling - including corrupt police officers - were paid a lot of money.
He says the best police could do for now is encourage people to surrender firearms and do what they could to crack down on the smuggling.
