Papua New Guinea's Police Commissioner, Sam Inguba, has rejected a claim by the Internal Security Minister, that police have issued at least 20,000 gun licenses over the last ten years.
The Minister, Bire Kimisopa, was reported in the local newspaper, the Post-Courier, as making the claim in a statement prepared for parliament but not tabled when the House voted an early adjournment.
The Police Commissioner told the newspaper that no new licenses have been issued since the government introduced a moratorium on firearms four years ago.
He said over 20,000 guns had been issued since the Firearms Act was passed during the pre-colonial era, but not over the last ten years.
