Military arrests man for making weapons for GAM
PADANG, West Sumatra (JP): Intelligence personnel from the Wirabraja Military Regional Command in Padang arrested an Acehnese man on suspicion of manufacturing weapons for the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), an officer said on Monday.
Wirabraja Regional Military Commander Col. Soeprijanto identified the suspect as 46-year-old Tengku Saleh. He said the suspect was detained at a house in Koto Baru village, Maninjau district, Agam regency, West Sumatra, on Friday.
Officers also confiscated three pistols, two rifles, a manual on how to use and assemble FN pistols and several tools used to make weapons.
"Our intelligence officers moved in after collecting sufficient information and making sure they had the evidence," Soeprijanto said.
He said he ordered his intelligence personnel to place Saleh under surveillance after receiving reports the suspect had told several people he made guns for GAM.
During preliminary questioning, Saleh, who has resided in Koto Baru village since 1993 and is married to a local woman, reportedly admitted he had supplied at least 30 weapons to separatist rebels in Aceh via a broker in the strife-torn province.
The suspect also confessed that he received orders from the rebel group to repair broken weapons.
Soeprijadi said Saleh had been handed over to the local police for further investigation as he was suspected to be part of a larger syndicate.
Aceh rebels have been engaged in an armed conflict with Indonesian security forces for years, but authorities have made little progress in uncovering who is supplying arms to the separatist group.
Separately in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, police said a strike by truck and bus drivers that has dragged on for over a week was not purely motivated by concerns over illegal levies.
Aceh Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harun said a preliminary police examination showed the strike was being spurred on by separatist rebels seeking to paralyze the province economically.
Sad Harun admitted security forces did stop trucks on certain routes, but maintained this was for security reasons and not to collect illegal levies from drivers.
He said that through such security measures police were able sometime ago to intercept a shipment of thousands of bullets being transported from Medan, North Sumatra, to North Aceh.
"We received information from the public that the armed separatist group intimidated truck drivers in Paya Demam and Panthon Labu in East Aceh to hold the strike," Sad Harun said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile in Bandung, West Java, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD said he wanted to correct misleading reports about the deployment of security personnel to Aceh.
Mahfud said the troops were dispatched to Aceh for one main reason: to maintain peace and order so a dialog between the rebels and the government could proceed.
"The government still wants to solve the problems in Aceh through dialog, and this dialog and other humanitarian programs can only be achieved if security and order are maintained," he said after attending a ceremony to mark the handover of a Super Puma NAS-332 from state-owned aircraft company PT Dirgantara Indonesia to the Air Force. (28/25/emf)