Disgruntled Renbel landowner takes law into own hands
A disgruntled landowner on Rennell has taken the law into his own hand by taking possession of a heavy dump truck said to be owned by Bintan Mining (SI) Ltd, claiming he was owed money by the company.
The unnamed man decided to ship the dump truck – used for carrying bauxite from the mining site to the loading bays along the coast – to Honiara on board a logging barge.
But as soon as he arrived in Honiara, he too appears to have found himself in hot water – the logging company which shipped the heavy dump truck to Honiara is after the man to settle the freight charges, according to Naha police.
With the cooperation of the disgruntled landowner, Naha police have taken possession of the Volvo dump truck.
But the unnamed man is perhaps too clever for the police to handle.
While he helped to drive the vehicle to the Naha police station, where it has been parked for the past two to three weeks, he decided to divide his loot – police keep the vehicle, he keeps the key.
That has left the police in a bind. They do not know who owns the truck, much less what to do with it.
“This is a matter for the Renbel police, not Honiara. The man should have opened a case against the company back on Rennell. As it is, we just do not know what to do,” police told the Sunday Star yesterday.
Asked why police did not retrieve the keys to the truck from the man, they did not seem to have an answer.
As the case stands, the man is after the company to pay him what he is allegedly owed and that’s one side of the story. The other side of this tale of twisted fate is that the freighter is after the man to settle the freight charges.
It will be a case of who gets his debt settled first.
Naha police said there’s already a steady flow of suitors who might be interested in buying the huge Volvo dump truck.
By ALFRED SASAKO
Newsroom, Honiara
