Hundreds of weapons seized from jails in police raids
Hundreds of weapons seized from jails in police raids
JAKARTA (JP): In a preplanned raid, East Jakarta Police and
Tangerang Police confiscated hundreds of weapons at Cipinang
Penitentiary in East Jakarta, and the men's penitentiary in
Tangerang on Sunday.
The raids came two days after Friday's jailbreak by two
suspects in last year's bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange
(JSX) building from Cipinang Penitentiary and five days after
brawls in Tangerang Penitentiary.
Police confiscated knives, swords, sickles, machetes and other
dangerous weapons from the prisoners' jail cells at Cipinang
jail, according to East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr.
Agus Irianto.
"Many of the weapons were fashioned by the prisoners
themselves and hidden under their beds and in potted plants. The
weapons filled up at least four to five gunnysacks.
"We also confiscated a marijuana plant being grown inside the
jail, ecstasy pills, shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamines),
smoking devices for shabu-shabu and other drugs from the jail
cells," Agus told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Agus added that the weapons found inside the jail clearly
portrayed the extreme laxness in security in the prison.
"This clearly shows the (possible) corruption of prison
guards," Agus said.
He added that almost anything from sharp weapons, firearms and
grenades to cellphones, could be smuggled into prisons here.
Tangerang Police held a similar raid for sharp weapons at the
Men's Tangerang Penitentiary.
Police confiscated hundreds of weapons, including catapults,
knives, swords and homemade bombs.
The huge number of weapons seized by police indicated that the
prison inmates were preparing for a huge fight within the prison,
following last Tuesday' brawl over a frying pan, which sent three
inmates to the hospital.
Agus also said that the police were questioning four witnesses
over the escape of Irwansyah and Nuryadin, suspects of the JSX
building bombing, from the Cipinang Penitentiary.
Police rearrested suspect Irwansyah, a former member of the
Army's Special Forces (Kopassus), minutes after his escape, but
suspect Nuryadin managed to get away on a stolen motorcycle.
"We are currently questioning four prison guards, including
chief of security at the prison and Silalahi, who had been held
at gunpoint by the suspects, before they escaped. The other three
guards being questioned are Simbolon, Norman and Tumingan," Agus
said.
He added that Irwansyah and Nuryadin had possibly made contact
with at least one of two JSX bombing suspects who had escaped
from prison, during their visits to court for their trials.
"When Irwansyah and Nuryadin appeared in court recently for
their trials, we believe they made contact with at least one
suspect who had earlier escaped from prison," Agus said.
On July 16, Second. Corp. Ibrahim Hasan, of the Army Strategic
Reserves Command (Kostrad), escaped when a car transporting him
to a hospital had a flat tire.
Another of the nine suspects in the JSX blast, Ibrahim Abdul
Wahab, 40, escaped from his cell at Cipinang Penitentiary by
climbing the wall with a rope thrown to a tree outside the high
prison walls in February this year. (ylt)