PNG is a basket case with 1/2 Indonesian GDP per capita and a military worse than the Taliban. Good luck.
Is there any legal way to ban or discourage them from returning?
There has been many ideas lobblied at John Lee and his gov regarding how to prevent the roaches from returning, including seizing roaches' public housing (many of them were on government public housing), this is a good idea as it forces them into the private rental market upon return, the costs of which may deter some (but not all) from returning, as they would be cash-short having wasted most of it in inflationland UK.
For some roaches who were in the front lines, and roach leaders like ex-lawmaker Tanya Chan (who broke COVID rules, then fled to Wanwan & opened a Hongkie cafe) don't need any discouragement, alarms bells would ring the second they pass airport customs, and the police would happily greet them with a pair of handcuffs.
Ultimately there are some disagreement among politicans, some don't mind the water under the bridge approach and allow the moderate terrorist roaches back, especially amid the worker shortage we currently have. I don't think the gov seriously considers preventing/banning their return, although the $1 million bounty on the roach leaders is a good development and hopefully discourages lesser roaches from returning.
Mainland Chinese authorites were much quicker in preventing roaches from entering China, as roaches' Home Return/Mainland Travel-Permits (basically a credit card size ID card that allows HKers go in and out of China) were promptly cancelled, much to the surprise of roaches when they attempted to cross into Shenzhen for weekend holidays when COVID rules lifted. HK cops used Chinese facial AI.... every roach that threw a molotov cocktail, destroyed public/private property, ripped down a Chinese flag, were recorded and IDed, and this data given to Chinese authorities.
Many arrests were made by the HK police with this facial AI.... the roaches were again surprised, I had a mask on, how did they ID me? they thought... The thing is, Chinese facial AI is totally badass, it only needs to capture the eyes...and compare the image to existing databases (like the HKID and Home Return-Permit photo databases) then the roach is identified with 96% accuracy.
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