Police accuse GAM of abducting officer's son

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The police accused members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) of kidnapping the son of the Aceh Besar police chief, Supt. Sayed Hoesainy. The boy has been missing since Aug. 28, 2000, a police officer said on Tuesday.

The accusation was aired by Aceh Provincial Police chief Brig. Gen. Doddy Sumantyawan, while identifying the missing boy as 16- year-old Sayed Ikram, a high school student.

"We will adopt a persuasive approach in order to set him (Ikram) free," Doddy said as quoted by Antara.

He claimed that he had received a tip-off, saying that GAM would set Ikram free in exchange for three of their members who are currently in police detention.

"However, we haven't heard anything from GAM about negotiations."

Doddy said Ikram was last seen on the morning of Aug. 28 when he left for school. However, he failed to return home later in the afternoon.

"We strongly believe that he has been abducted by GAM," he said.

Ikram is the third of Hoesainy's five children.

Doddy called on the movement members not to hurt Ikram, saying that the boy had nothing to do with police operations in the area.

Separately, GAM commander in Aceh Besar, Abu Tazurra, said on Tuesday that Ikram was okay and would soon be returned to his family.

"Ikram is alive and will be returned to his family after we have finished with his prosecution," he said.

He claimed that Ikram was taken into "custody" by local residents while attempting to obtain dried marijuana leaves in Lamteuba village.

"The residents then handed him over to us ten days ago for legal prosecution," he said, adding that the residents believed that Jakarta law did not apply in the area.

Abu dismissed allegations that GAM had planned to exchange the boy for its three members, saying that Ikram had been arrested prior to the arrest of the three GAM members and that the two cases were not related.

"The boy has violated our laws, while our three members are political prisoners," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Doddy announced that the police had raided a house, allegedly used by GAM members as their headquarters in Cot village, Darussalam district, Aceh Besar regency.

Doddy said that after searching the house, the police found and confiscated homemade explosives, 179 bullets, two hand grenades, 20 kilograms of fertilizer allegedly used as raw material for explosives and nine packages of gunpowder.

The police also seized 14 batteries and a 25-meter-long cable, both used to detonate bombs, the movement's flag, stationary imprinted with GAM symbols, three motorcycles and two cars.

Dody said the house had been used as a meeting place to discuss plans for bomb attacks across the area, including those which exploded at the Baiturrahman police precinct office and the Provincial Legislative Council compound on Monday.

In a related development, two armed civilians on a motorcycle threw a grenade at the residence of North Aceh police chief Supt. Abadan Bangko on Jl. Merdeka in the North Aceh regency capital of Lhokseumawe, Tuesday afternoon.

Abadan said the grenade had damaged the roof of the house and shattered several windows, but nobody was injured in the incident.

"The police didn't fire on the attackers as this is a housing complex crowded with residents. But we will continue to track them down," he said.

Meanwhile, residents of eight villages in Krueng Sabee district in West Aceh regency have fled their homes to take refuge in the district's grand mosque, fearing that another shootout between the military and armed rebels could erupt at anytime in their villages. A series of gunfights between the two sides occurred over the weekend. (50/lup)