Police close in on arrest for NAC Gurney ambush

New Paving Machine being moved on Monday from robbery site to Gurney. It will need some repair work as it sustained some damage during robbery attack incident last Thursday (NBC News)

Police in Alotau claim to know the identities of the perpetrators of last week's armed holdup and attack of foreign employees of a construction company attached to the Gurney Airport upgrade works in Alotau.

Provincial Police Commander chief inspector Benjamin Kua this week, confirmed they have reliable intelligence on the four suspects and will be making arrests soon.

Early Thursday evening last week, two Chinese nationals from the China Railway Construction Engineering Group were attacked and injured while taking delivery of a new paving machine from town to the project site at Gurney.

The machine, left abandoned at the scene, is said to have also suffered some damage and on Monday was finally moved to the Gurney site where it will undergo maintenance.

NAC Acting Managing Director Dominic Kaumu condemned the attack last week, he however says the Gurney Airport works is on track for the A220 aircrafts come airport reopening in 2026.

He warned though, should anymore incidents as such happen, this will add to delays in completion of the runway and prolonged flight downgrades.

Flight downgrades are current for Gurney and are attributed to shortened available runway length for takeoff and landing as work on the taxiway and apron progresses.

Only Dash 8 aircrafts are being okayed for use during this time.