Illegal weapons handed over to military

AMBON, Maluku: Residents of Ambon have handed over 71 weapons to military officers of the Pattimura military command, which covers Maluku province, in a move that one military officer said was voluntary. The 71 weapons consisted of one standard Army issue SKS rifle and 70 home made weapons. The homemade ones consisted of 47 rifles and 23 other firearms.

The SKS rifle was handed over to military officers on Friday, while the 70 homemade weapons were handed over on Tuesday. The SKS rifle was surrendered to the military officers by a resident of Liang subdistrict, Central Maluku regency, while the 70 homemade weapons were handed over by people from Laimu subdistrict, also in Central Maluku regency.

Besides the rifle, the resident from Liang subdistrict also handed over 43 rounds of 7.62 millimeter ammunition and one AK 47 magazine. Meanwhile, the residents from Laimu subdistrict handed over hundreds of live rounds of various caliber ammunition, including 5.56, 7.62 and 9 millimeter ammunition.

Acting spokesman for the Pattimura military command, Maj. Paiman, claimed that the handover of the weapons and ammunition was voluntarily. "We will not press charges against those who handed over the weapons voluntarily," said Paiman.

The situation in Maluku, which was rocked by bloody sectarian conflicts from 1999 to 2002, largely returned to normal last year. This prompted the government to lift the state of civil emergency in the province. Despite the return to normalcy, the military and police still conduct door-to-door searches for illegal weapons stored by residents. -- JP