Security forces move against looting in Aceh

Security forces move against looting in Aceh

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Abandoned buildings in Aceh, whose owners have either died or
fled to other areas, have become too much of a temptation for
hungry, poor refugees, some of whom have been caught looting.

Mohammad Zulfikar, a commander from Company Sat III Detachment
C in Aceh, said that the military and the police were working
together to protect abandoned buildings from looting, as reported
by Antara.

Apart from protecting these vacant buildings, the authorities
also must protect the residential housing complexes and shopping
malls that are still standing, in whole or in part.

"Our duty right now is to guard markets and valuable shops
that are still left in Aceh, in addition to helping out with the
evacuation process," he said.

He explained that a few days ago, the police arrested a person
for looting at an empty house, which had been abandoned by its
owner.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said that he also
had received similar reports of looting incident at a jewelry
shop in Banda Aceh.

Paiman quickly added that the police had already detained a
person for that and everything was now under control.

"There have been no other looting reports so far," Paiman told
The Jakarta Post.

However, he admitted that there was a lack of police personnel
in Aceh after the tsunami swept through most of the police
stations and killed many police officers.

"Before the disaster, we had around 14,000 officers there, but
many have disappeared and we don't know whether they're alive and
safe or not," Paiman said.

In order to bolster the number of security personnel in Aceh,
the police transferred around 150 officers from North Sumatra and
added 200 more from Jakarta.

Another 740 personnel have been deployed from many provincial
police precincts across Indonesia to add to the 500 newly
graduated officers that have been sent to Aceh.

"We're increasing our numbers in order to prevent more looting
or other criminal activity," Paiman said.

He added that the National Police headquarters also sent
around 30 police cars.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that the police
would continue to add to the number of police officers until they
had a similar number as they had before Dec. 26.

"We will send more mobile brigade units (police paramilitary
force) to Aceh until the number reaches 14,000 again. They will
join the existing 7,600 personnel in Aceh," Da'i said as quoted
by www.detik.com.