Former journalist’s death suspicious

PORT MORESBY – Police in Papua New Guinea are investigating the suspicious death of former newspaper journalist Harold Farapo.

Farapo’s body was found on Sunday morning dumped near Tatana village, on an island in Port Moresby’s Fairfax Harbour.

His former diplomat father Tony Farapo said his son’s body was awaiting a postmortem as police carry out their preliminary investigations.

According to Farapo Senior – a former MP and one-time PNG ambassador to Japan and high commissioner to Malaysia – his son had been working as a consultant with the Kikori Gas Pipeline Landowner Association for the past seven years.

He was also a former executive officer to the Gulf provincial government.

“Just recently he went to China with the prime minister to meet with the Chinese investors about the setting up of Kikori township,” Farapo Senior said.

He has appealed to the people his son was with on Friday night to come forward and help police with their investigations.

He said Farapo Junior, who lives in the suburb of Morata in Port Morseby, had visited the chairman for the Kikori Gas Pipeline Landowner Association around 10pm at Hohola, another suburb of the capital.

Farapo said the killing of his son took place after he had left Hohola for home later that night.

There has been no explanation how his body ended up on Tatana Island, some 12 kilometres from Hohola, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway.