Thai guns circulate in North Sumatra: Police<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra<\/p>\n
A Thai criminal syndicate is believed to be smuggling large
\nquantities of firearms into North Sumatra through seaports across
\nthe province, police said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Provincial police chief Insp. Gen. Edi Sunarno said his office
\nknew of at least 91 AK-47 and M-16 rifles recently smuggled into
\nIndonesia. Thirty-five of the guns were still believed to be
\ncirculating in North Sumatra, he said.<\/p>\n
Police earlier seized five guns when they arrested two
\nsuspects believed to belong to the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
\non Jan. 4 in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, he said.<\/p>\n
Edi said the unnamed suspects had confessed that at least 40
\nAK-47 and M-16 firearms and a number of grenades had been
\nsmuggled to North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Police were still looking for the remaining 35 guns, he said.<\/p>\n
Edi called those behind the smuggling operation \"crooks\" from
\nsouthern Thailand.<\/p>\n
\"Our investigations show there are certain places used to
\nsmuggle in illegal weapons, such as small ports in Puereulak,
\nNorth Aceh, on the Cermin coast in the Deli Serdang regency and
\nthrough the Tanjung Balai Asahan port in North Sumatra,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He urged residents in the regions to keep their eyes open to
\nhelp military and police find arms smugglers.<\/p>\n
\"The (residents) should do this because the number of our
\nsecurity personnel covering these regions is limited,\" Edi said.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra is adjacent to Aceh, which has been placed under
\nmartial law since May last year to crush a GAM separatist
\nuprising. Hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed
\nin the ongoing military operation.<\/p>\n
Smuggling of weapons and other commodities is reportedly
\nrampant in North Sumatra.<\/p>",
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