Skipper faces arms charges

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar

Bali Police said they have provided prosecutors with the case file on an Australian fishing boat captain being held on charges of illegal possession of firearms.

"We are still waiting for a reply from the prosecutor's office as to whether the file on Christopher Packer still needs to be supplemented or not," Bali Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Antonius Samuel Reniban said on Tuesday.

He said it usually took about two weeks for the prosecutors to study a case file.

Antonius said that in a raid on Packer's Australian-registered vessel, the Lissa Aviatu last Friday, police found two Mousers, one mini Ruger, one Winchester rifle, one FN revolver and one S&W Magnum revolver in the boat without the necessary permits.

The police also discovered 2,780 rounds of ammunition of various calibers inside the 494-ton ship, which has been converted into a fishing vessel.

Packer, 52, and his four crew members were also accused of immigration offenses for overstaying in Indonesia. The files on these allegations were handed over to the Bali immigration office for further investigation.

Antonius said the suspects -- Packer and his Italian girlfriend, Gianna Maria, 41, New Zealander Peru Morris, 50, Spaniard Alvaro Rocca, 23, and Italian Kenneth Brewsteel, 47, -- had violated Article 53 of Law No. 9/1992 on immigration.

Immigration officials said all of the expatriates had overstayed their visas by three days counting from Nov. 16 and that they would be deported from Indonesia, except for Packer, who is facing arms charges.

"We couldn't charge him (Packer) with shipping administration violations because all his shipping documents are complete. The suspect has also denied possessing marijuana," Antonius said.

Police had initially found remnants of what was believed to be marijuana inside the drawer of the captain's cabin. However, it was later found that the leaves and seeds found were not marijuana.

The vessel left Australia on Sept. 14 and made stopovers in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara and Pemenang in Lombok before arriving at Benoa harbor in Bali.

The boat anchored off Serangan island from Nov. 12 to Nov. 19 and planned to continue its journey through the Indonesian archipelago before heading to Malaysia, Thailand, South Asia, Africa and finally to Europe.