3 arrested for possession of detonators, ammunition

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

Police here said on Friday they had arrested three people for allegedly possessing bomb detonators, firearms and bullets in Luwu regency, around 550 kilometers from the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar.

The suspects, residents from the town of Soroako, were identified as Jafar, 27, Rio, 27, and Rudi, 30.

Chief of the South Sulawesi police detectives Sr. Comr. Achmad Abdi said his members seized material evidence from behind Rudi's house, including 17 detonators, one Smith & Wesson revolver and eight rounds of ammunition.

They also found ammunition for an FN-16 gun and a Carbine, he added.

Abdi said the police had arrested Rio after local residents reported that spotted a person carrying a gun.

"From him, it was found that the owner of the gun is Jafar," Abdi told journalists in Makassar.

Jafar confessed that the gun was buried behind the house of Rudi, who is one of his brothers, the chief detective added.

"After digging up a plot of land there, we discovered a firearm and its bullets. Five meters away from the location, 17 detonators wrapped in gloves were also found," he said.

The three suspects, currently being held at the South Sulawesi Police Headquarters, told investigators that they got the detonators, the gun and the ammunitions from Poso regency in Central Sulawesi, which was wracked by two years of religious fighting that began in 2000.

"According to Jafar, he brought the guns from Poso when he visited the town recently," Abdi said.

"We don't know yet where the detonators were to be used and we are investigating the case."

The detonators were rumored to originally procured by Canada- based nickel company PT Inco in Soroako.

Abdi said the three suspects have so far been charged with breaching Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

The police have found no link yet between the suspects and the Dec. 5, 2002 bombings of a McDonald's outlet in Makassar, which killed three people, he said.

But he added that the 17 detonators were similar with those found at the house of Masnur, one of the suspects charged with his involvement in the McDonald's blast.