Ex-presidential guard arrested with heroin

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)