Soldiers questioned over arms theft
Netty Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua
The Indonesian Military (TNI) has questioned 20 TNI members over the recent raid on a military arsenal in the Wamena district that left three dead, a senior military officer said.
Trikora military commander overseeing Papua, Maj. Gen. Nurdin Zainal said the military had questioned 20 of its members as witnesses in the case. So far no one has been named a suspect, he said.
Nurdin did not rule out the possibility of military involvement in the theft, which authorities initially blamed solely on the Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebel group.
Security was uncharacteristically light, enabling raiders to easily get in and escape, Nurdin noted. He suspected an insider job.
"I must admit that this raid was possible because officers' let down their guard," he told reporters.
"Rumors of an possible attack against a TNI facility have circulated since January. Furthermore, the group was likely able to influence someone from inside to make the operation easier," he said.
A group believed to be members of the OPM rebel group broke into the Army arsenal in Wamena on April 4.
They stole at least 13 M-16 rifles, 13 SP-1 rifles and three PM rifles along with thousands of rounds of ammunition.
The raid also killed two Army soldiers, First Lt. A. Napitupulu and First Sgt Ruben Lena. A civilian identified as Islae Nurib and an alleged member of the group was also killed.
The three died during a shoot out that followed when soldiers passed the location and spotted the burglary.
TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin had said earlier that the soldiers assigned to guard the arsenal were conspicuously absent during the raid.
TNI has sent 144 combat soldiers of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) to Papua to hunt down the group and recoup the stolen weapons.
Trikora military commander Nurdin said that of the 29 stolen weapons, 19 had been recovered. The remaining 10, he said, were still in the hands of the attackers now hiding out in the village of Napua.
"We already know the current position of the attackers... but we will approach them through persuasive means, talking to local figures to enable us to recover the weapons peacefully," he said.
He also called on the people of Wamena to remain calm despite the military-led manhunt in the district.
Activists have often criticized the TNI over their scant respect for civilians and human rights during military operations.
But Nurdin said people in Wamena had nothing to fear, noting that three of the stolen weapons were recovered on information from the locals.
Antara reported that one of the suspected gang members was arrested, bringing to three the total number of arrests in this case.
"The suspect was arrested in the Sinale region. He was wounded in the leg after he tried to escape," Wamena military commander Col. Agus Muljadi said on Saturday.
The raid in Wamena marked the third major incident in a row that implicated soldiers.
In 2001, the government recalled members of Kopassus in Papua after soldiers of the unit were named suspects in the murder of Papua independence figure Theys Hiyo Eluay in 2001.
Last year, soldiers were also implicated in an ambush that killed three employees of the U.S. giant gold and copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia.