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Searches will now be based on tips
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Posted on Jun 23 2011
Search operations for missing sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk will now be driven largely by tips that come in, according to the police.
There was no word yesterday if the Department of Public Safety and the FBI did a search to locate the Luhk sisters.
Press secretary Angel Demapan told Saipan Tribune that there are no “Operation Hope” updates at this time for public disclosure.
When asked if there will be searches by volunteers this weekend, Demapan said this will be done only if any discovery warrants a search of a particular location.
“Thus, if anything is to occur over the weekend, it will be a result of such,” he said.
Many volunteers had joined DPS officers, particularly on weekends, to look for the missing sisters since their mysterious disappearance on May 25 in As Teo.
With the return of FBI special agents and support staff to Hawaii and DPS moving the Incident Command Post in Kagman to its main headquarters in Susupe, it is not clear whether there will still be volunteers showing up this weekend.
On Wednesday, DPS teams searched the Kalabera Cave, the Bird Island cliff line in Marpi, and the Kagman watershed known as Education Island, but still failed to find any trace of the Luhks.
As to how much the government will be paying in overtime costs for the search, Demapan said the actual figure is still being processed.
“Like all other payroll expenses, the funding source for this expenditure would be the general fund,” he said.
DPS Commissioner Ramon Mafnas had earlier estimated the overtime costs to reach half a million dollars.
Despite the $50,000 cash reward for information on the Luhk sisters, tips and leads have slowed down, the FBI earlier said.
