Police urged to crack down on illegal weapons
Police urged to crack down on illegal weapons
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The North Sumatra provincial legislature has demanded a crackdown
on illegal weapons here following a series of armed robberies,
which have claimed five lives over the past week.
There were at least five robberies last week in which the
suspects shot their victims.
Chairman of the Golkar faction at the legislature, Marzuki,
called Medan "Wild West cowboy town" due to the rampant use of
weapons.
"The trend has sparked anxiety among the people as the
criminals can apparently obtain guns quite easily, and do not
hesitate to kill their victims," Marzuki said.
"To make matters worse, the police have completely failed to
identify the suspects, not to mention chase them down."
Robbers killed a security guard and a bank driver at a Bank
Lippo branch here on Tuesday. A third victim, another security
guard, died on Thursday in the hospital, where he was being
treated for a gunshot wound to the head.
On Wednesday an armed robbery took place at the home of a
resident of Labuhan Batu regency near Medan, and two people were
shot to death.
Police have jumped to the conclusion that the robbers are
linked to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) from nearby Aceh province.
Tension has increased in the neighboring province as both GAM and
the government are bracing for a war.
A number of suspected GAM members have also been arrested in
Medan for their alleged involvement in a series of bombings in
the city last month.
"It remains uncertain whether the police will investigate any
of the armed robberies ... the police rarely manage to capture
the suspects," Marzuki said.
Chairman of the United Development Party faction, Ali Jabbar
Napitupulu, shared Marzuki's concerns and demanded that the
police take more measures to control the crimes involving arms.
"This will be test case for the police chief to see whether he
manages to restore security here," Ali warned, referring to
Police Brig. Gen. Edy Sunarno.
Ali suggested that the police conduct an operation to crack
down on illegal weapons and impose stricter requirements for
people who apply for licenses to carry guns.
The police have registered at least 1,300 legal weapons for
civilians across the province in the past 12 months, half of
which were handguns. The owners include government officials,
businesspeople and politicians.
Edy pledged that he would take the necessary gun-control
measures in the province.
"We will take immediate action to control the distribution of
weapons to prevent more armed robberies," he said.
Police data showed 107 crimes involving weapons between 2001
and 2002, but only 56 of them were solved.
The most recent case took place on Thursday when one police
officer was shot in the back by an unidentified man on a
motorcycle. The officer, Brig. Haris Nasution, was rushed to the
hospital and was still in intensive care as of Saturday evening.