According to Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape, all of the captives who had been taken prisoner by armed criminals in a remote area had been released.
Marape said on Facebook that the remaining three hostages had been successfully returned through covert operations without any (ransom) being paid. “We apologise to the families of those seized as hostages for ransom,” Marape said.
A group of heavily armed men had taken four hostages, including foreign nationals and local tour guides, but one of them, a lady, was released on Wednesday. On Monday, national police had referred to the individuals as “opportunists.”
In a tweet on Sunday, New Zealand’s foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta welcomed the release of the group, which included a New Zealander who is a professor at an Australian university.
PNG Police Commissioner David Manning had previously said the hostage-takers had spotted the group “by chance” and taken them into the bush.
“These are opportunists that have obviously not thought this situation through before they acted, and have been asking for cash to be paid,” Manning said.
Papua New Guinea, a Pacific nation of more than 9 million people, shares an island with the restive Indonesian region of Papua.
In a separate incident earlier this month, a New Zealand pilot was taken hostage by separatist fighters in Papua. Identified by local police as Philip Mehrtens, the pilot was captured after landing a commercial Susi Air charter flight at Paro Airport in the remote highlands of the Nduga regency.
The group previously demanded that all incoming flights to Paro Airport be stopped and said the pilot would not be released until the Indonesian government acknowledged Papuan independence.