Police question Bakin general over AK-47 rifle permit issuance
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Police have questioned a brigadier general and a retired colonel in connection with the arrest of Haryogi M. Maulani, who was caught red-handed with possession of an AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova) rifle and a Walther Colt gun, an officer of the city police special crimes unit said.
The major, who requested anonymity, identified the people questioned as Brig. Gen. Soetopo, Fourth Deputy of the State Intelligence Coordinating Body (Bakin), who allegedly signed the permit for Haryogi, a businessman, to possess the AK-47 rifle.
"The permit was signed by Soetopo. Why Soetopo signed it is the question. We are still digging," the officer told The Jakarta Post.
"The other person we questioned was Army Col. Jalil, a retired military officer who used to work for BIA (the intelligence body of the then Indonesian Armed Forces)."
The officer also said that police investigators found it difficult to question Haryogi because the businessman had "speaking difficulties".
"He has had some 13 surgeries on his voice membrane since he was a kid. He was nearly mute before ... he speaks very slowly and sometimes we can't understand what he is saying," the officer said.
"We are sure that the AK-47 belongs to his father."
Haryogi is the son of Lt. Gen. (ret) Zaini Azhar Maulani, a former chief of Bakin.
On Feb. 16 police confiscated two weapons from the suspect.
One was an AK-47 weapon, serial number 4857, and had neither the bullets nor the magazine.
Another was a Colt Walther, number 271759, with bullets and the magazine.
Police also found a small packet containing white powder when Haryogi was arrested on the 10th floor of a hotel in West Jakarta, at about 2 a.m. on Feb. 16.
The arrest was made by Tamansari Police officers.
Officers of the Tamansari subprecinct received information from an unidentified person at 8 p.m. on Feb. 15, that there was a long rifle in room number 102 of the hotel.
The caller added that the person occupying the room was Haryogi.
Police arrived at the hotel at about 11 p.m. on Feb. 15. Since the room was locked, they used the hotel's master key to enter.
They found the AK-47 rifle on a table. The room was untidy, but empty. Officers left it the way it was and stood on alert outside the hotel.
At about 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 16, they saw Haryogi in the hotel's parking lot, with his father's Pajero jeep. They immediately arrested him and found the Walther Colt on him.
Haryogi showed police officers the permit for the AK-47, signed by Soetopo.
"What we still have to find out is that if he had a permit why was he so adamant in hiding the weapon from the police? What was he using it for?"
An AK-47 rifle is between 70 centimeters to 86 centimeters long and weighs about four kilograms. It has been used in many wars around the world. Producing countries include the former Soviet Union, China, Hungary and Bulgaria. (ylt)