Thai guns circulate in North Sumatra: Police

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

A Thai criminal syndicate is believed to be smuggling large quantities of firearms into North Sumatra through seaports across the province, police said on Friday.

Provincial police chief Insp. Gen. Edi Sunarno said his office knew of at least 91 AK-47 and M-16 rifles recently smuggled into Indonesia. Thirty-five of the guns were still believed to be circulating in North Sumatra, he said.

Police earlier seized five guns when they arrested two suspects believed to belong to the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Jan. 4 in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, he said.

Edi said the unnamed suspects had confessed that at least 40 AK-47 and M-16 firearms and a number of grenades had been smuggled to North Sumatra.

Police were still looking for the remaining 35 guns, he said.

Edi called those behind the smuggling operation "crooks" from southern Thailand.

"Our investigations show there are certain places used to smuggle in illegal weapons, such as small ports in Puereulak, North Aceh, on the Cermin coast in the Deli Serdang regency and through the Tanjung Balai Asahan port in North Sumatra," he said.

He urged residents in the regions to keep their eyes open to help military and police find arms smugglers.

"The (residents) should do this because the number of our security personnel covering these regions is limited," Edi said.

North Sumatra is adjacent to Aceh, which has been placed under martial law since May last year to crush a GAM separatist uprising. Hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the ongoing military operation.

Smuggling of weapons and other commodities is reportedly rampant in North Sumatra.