Gun-totting civil servants caught

Gun-totting civil servants caught

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post/Ambon

Two civil servants here were caught red-handed carrying an
automatic rifle and several other weapons. The pair were stopped
as they were riding on a motorcycle in Passo subdistrict, Ambon
Baguala Bay district, Ambon, on Thursday, a senior police officer
said on Friday.

The two men, Agustinus Latureke, 53, and Paulus Naskay, 40,
employees of the Maluku Plantations Agency, were arrested by a
member of the Maluku Police's water and air service as they were
traveling toward Ambon city.

They were found carrying an Australian-made automatic RMS
Colt, two machetes, 20 rounds of 5.36 caliber ammunition and a
magazine. They were taken to Maluku Police's water and air
service base not far from the scene of the arrests.

When asked by The Jakarta Post, water and air service chief
Adj. Sr. Comr. Lunik Widodo confirmed the arrests. He said that
one of his men had arrested the two men in possession of
dangerous weapons as they were passing through Passo on a
motorbike.

Adj. Comr. Saimima, who was also riding a motorcycle, became
suspicious of the two men on the motorbike in front of him, who
were carrying a plastic sack whose shape indicated it contained a
rifle.

Saimima immediately stopped them. After asking them to open
the sack, the officer discovered that it contained a rifle and
other weapons.

"The type of rifle they were in carrying is not used by the
Indonesian Armed Forces nor the National Police," said Widodo.

He explained that the two suspects admitted that they were
heading toward Ambon city, address of which was yet to be known.
Both men are now being held by the water and air service and will
later be handed over to the detectives division.

When asked about the origin of the weapons, Widodo said that
this was not yet clear and that the two suspects were still being
interrogated.

"They were caught red-handed in possession of dangerous
weapons and they will be brought to book for that," he said.

Ambon was a scene of sectarian disturbances between 1999 and
2002 that killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of
thousands of others to flee the province for safety.

The security situation gradually returned to some semblance of
normalcy after a peace pact was signed between the warring sides
in 2002 in Malino, Central Sulawesi, but sporadic shootings and
bombings still take place, prompting the security forces to
conduct regular patrols and raids. People arresting for carrying
weapons normally maintain they were doing so for self-defense.