Maluku Police collect weapons
Oktavianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
Hundreds of assembled guns, sharp weapons and ammunition were collected by the police in strife-torn Ambon in recognition of the Malino peace deal, which aims to eliminate violence in the area, provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.A. said on Friday.
People voluntarily surrendered their weapons to security personnel on Thursday, including residents of three villages who delivered a total of 125 guns and ammunition to the police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) on Thursday.
The residents of Rutong, Leahari and Hutumuri villages in Sirimau district of Ambon on Friday observed the surrendering of weaponry at Maluku Police Headquarters.
Among the weaponry collected were 54 rifles, 24 handguns, 48 bazookas, 25 homemade bombs, 224 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, 716 arrows, 16 bows, 16 swords and dozens of spears.
"No standard police or military weapons were among the haul ... but some of the ammunition is standard military/police issue," Soenarko said.
Soenarko further said local residents, such as those of Soya village, had four times surrendered their weapons en mass to the police. Similar gestures had been made at Pulau Ambon Police station in Central Maluku.
Some of those who handed guns over to security forces were members of the police and the military, Soenarko said. "But most of them asked for anonymity," he added.
"In principle, we collect guns and ammunition from any unauthorized parties," the officer stressed.
Asked whether the police would do house searches for guns in April -- due to the fact that the deadline for surrendering weapons, according to the Malino peace deal, is March 31 -- Soenarko said that the matter would further be discussed by Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina as the civil emergency administrator and Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. Mustopo as the security operational commander in Maluku.
The Malino peace deal, penned by the government and representatives of all warring camps in Maluku in the remote Malino town of South Sulawesi in mid-February, requires that all unauthorized weaponry must be surrendered to the authorities.
In another development, Soenarko said that the police had taken stern measures against two Brimob personnel who reportedly raped a female economics student of Pattimura University at the Natsepa beach resort in Suli of Salabutu district in the Ambon islands on March 12.
The two Brimob personnel, Pvt. Wayan and Pvt. Pandia, have been shipped back to their base at Brimob I regiment, pending further administrative and legal sanctions.
"I personally recommended that the two men be discharged from their unit because what they did tarnishes the image of the Mobile Brigade Corps and the police in general," Soenarko said.