Ex-presidential guard arrested with heroin

Sat, 11 Dec 1999, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

JAKARTA (JP): The National Military Police finally handed over
on Friday Sofyan, a former military police officer arrested on
Wednesday for allegedly possessing heroin, to the Jakarta Police
for further investigation, an officer said.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Erald Dotulong said the
decision was made after the military police interrogators learned
that the suspect was no longer in the military after being
discharged on Aug. 1, 1999, from the rank of first private.

"(But) the military police does not want to reveal its reasons
for discharging Sofyan. He is an ordinary civilian now and must
be treated in the same way as other civilians," Erald said.

Sofyan, also a former member of the Presidential Guards, was
arrested on Wednesday afternoon by Jakarta Police detectives on
Jl. Kebon Kacang Gg. 2 for allegedly possessing 22 small packets
of heroin.

According to a senior city police officer who asked for
anonymity, Sofyan's arrest was purely coincidental.

"Myself and three other officers were after two women drug
dealers at the time. When we reached the address, Sofyan met us
instead of the women. Since the house is a drug den, Sofyan
thought we wanted heroin from him, and he initially fished out a
packet from his pocket," the captain said.

"I took out my gun. When he saw my gun, he told us that he was
an anggota (the popular term among security officers to identify
their status as a security personnel) and then slapped my hand."

"I got angry. I shot two warning shots into the air, and then
he took out his military police ID card, dating back to 1997. We
just took him to city police for questioning," the officer said.

During police interrogation, Sofyan allegedly confessed that
he was a former presidential security guard of the then vice
president B.J. Habibie before being transferred to the military
police.

Spokesman Erald said the Jakarta Police were still
investigating the case and had yet to determine charges against
the suspect. (ylt)

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