Ammo shipment intercepted

SORONG, Irian Jaya: Police have seized thousands of ammunition for automatic rifles, possibly bound for strife-torn Ambon, from the KM Dobonsolo vessel which was docking at Sorong port on Monday.

Sorong Police Precinct Victor Sitorus said an unidentified man, who was still at large, smuggled boxes of ammunition for M- 16, SS-1 and AK-47 rifles.

The Sorong Military Command was brought into the investigation with its chief, Lt. Col. Eski Hermawan, calling the smuggling a threat to the nation.

Eski said there was a possibility the ammunition would be sent to Ambon. "But, because the ship was not scheduled to stop in Ambon, the ammunition was dropped in Sorong," he said.

John Rumbiak of the Irian Jaya Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy (IHRSTAD) said such a large shipment of ammunition could not have been made by ordinary civilians.

"The police or the military should really know where it came from," Rumbiak told The Jakarta Post. (eba/01)