Guns used at Trisakti 'match police weapons'

JAKARTA (JP): The team investigating the shootings at Trisakti University on May 12 in which four students died disclosed yesterday that it has identified two of the types of guns used in the incident.

The team leader, Jakarta Military Police Commander Col. Hendardji, told The Jakarta Post that the two gun types identified were SS-1 and Steyr AUG-P rifles.

"Based on ballistic tests carried out on two bullets collected as evidence it can be concluded that Heri Hartanto, one of the students killed, was shot by a Steyr rifle," Hendardji said from MMC hospital where he is currently being treated for a kidney problem.

One of the two bullets, he said, was removed from Heri's body, while the second was recovered near a glass door which it struck in the Sjarif Thayeb building in the university complex.

The second bullet was fired from an SS-1 rifle, he added.

"Now that the types of the guns used have been identified we are now one step closer to bringing the culprits to justice," he said.

Hendardji stated last week that Steyrs and SS-1 are officially used only by the police.

The ballistics results were obtained with the help of the metallurgy mechanics laboratory at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad, he said.

"The two bullets were discovered to be 5.56 mm rounds, so we identified which types of guns fired rounds of this diameter.

"The experts test fired these guns in the laboratory and then attempted to match the rifling marks (pitch) of these bullets with the rounds recovered from the victims body and the university campus," Hendardji explained.

Through this process the experts determined that the guns used to fire the bullets were a Steyr and an SS-1.

By narrowing down the search, the team did not need to check all the types of guns used by the security forces during the incident and this saved a great deal of time, he added.

When contacted by the Post, Mardjono, the head of the ITB metallurgy mechanics laboratory, confirmed the results, saying that the laboratory had cross-checked the pitch of the two bullets using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

"We were asked to compare the characteristics of each of the projectiles and then to identify the type of guns used to fire them. We completed the results about one week ago," Mardjono said.

The four types of gun tested were the M-16 A1, the M-16 A2, the Steyr-AUG and the SS-1 rifle, he said.

"Each gun was fired three times. We therefore had 12 repetitive fire samples. We then used the microscope to examine and compare those samples with the bullets which will be submitted as evidence. Our results are definitely conclusive.

"The results showed that a Steyr was used to fire the bullet recovered from the victim's body and the second round came from an SS-1."

Based on the results of the ballistics tests, Hendardji strongly believed that the officers responsible for the shootings are "probably among the 10 officers" who have been detained by his office.

However, he also revealed that the 21 guns thought to have been used in the Trisakti incident had not yet been handed over to the investigation team.

"They are still in the National Police Forensic Laboratory. This is very frustrating and has badly hindered our investigation. How can we discover the truth without those guns?" Hendardji said.

Meanwhile, head of the National Police Law Agency Brig. Gen. Anwari told the Post that he was disappointed with the progress made by the investigation team.

When asked about the 21 guns he said: "I can tell you this. Only the National Police Forensic Laboratory has the legal authority to conduct the ballistic tests.

"The involvement of PT Pindad and ITB must be questioned," Anwari added.

The ballistics experts from ITB and PT Pindad are scheduled to attend the Trisakti military tribunal today. (edt)