Three soldiers nabbed for stealing excavator<\/p>\n
Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru<\/p>\n
Local residents apprehended three soldiers and three civilians in
\nKampar regency, Riau province, here for stealing an excavator.<\/p>\n
Had the police not intervened, the three soldiers would have
\nbeen burned alive by angry residents, a senior police officer
\nclaimed on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The incident, which dealt another blow to the Indonesian
\nMilitary's (TNI) image, began when the soldiers, helped by the
\ncivilians, dismantled an excavator on Wednesday afternoon
\nbelonging to local councillor and businessman, Afridar.<\/p>\n
The three soldiers, from the Air Defense Battalion of Bukit
\nBarisan Military Command, and the civilians, skillfully
\ndismantled the Komatsu excavator in a plantation in Kebun Durian
\nsubdistrict with the help of various equipment, including a
\nwelding iron.<\/p>\n
However, as the six men were occupied, they were not aware
\nthat one of Afridar's workers had spotted them dismantling the
\nheavy machinery and loading the pieces onto a military truck.<\/p>\n
The worker reported his finding to local residents and
\nhundreds of residents quickly assembled to deal with the
\nplunderers.<\/p>\n
The residents marched to the plantation but on their way
\nthere, they saw the military truck pass by the street leaving the
\nsubdistrict. The angry residents stopped the truck, and forced
\nthe six men to get out of the truck. The residents were enraged,
\nas it was the third case in the past two months. Earlier, two
\nunits of heavy machinery belonging to fellow residents had been
\nstolen, allegedly by the same perpetrators.<\/p>\n
Some residents beat up the civilians and even threatened to
\nburn alive the three soldiers, but fortunately police personnel
\narrived at the scene and calmed the angry residents, said Kampar
\nPolice chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdul Hasyim Gani.<\/p>\n
The three soldiers were identified by their initials as Chief
\nSgt. MU, Chief Sgt. CAS and Second Corp. IN, while the three
\ncivilians were from Lampung province.<\/p>",
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