Two soldiers arrested for supplying arms to GAM

JAKARTA (JP): Two soldiers from the Military Police Headquarters have been arrested on charges of supplying AK-47 rifles to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen Slamet Kirbiyantoro said on Thursday.

The two men were picked up while on duty at the Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Monday, Slamet was quoted by Antara as saying.

He declined to give their names or ranks.

The chief of the Jakarta Military Police, Col. Mungkono, separately said that the two men were now undergoing investigation at the Jakarta Military Police headquarters.

Their arrests followed the confession of one of the suspects of the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building last month which the police have also blamed on GAM, he said.

Media Indonesia had earlier identified two members of the Military Police suspected of supplying arms to GAM as Chief Private Lutfi and First Sgt. James.

Mungkono said the investigation of the two soldiers would look into a possible connection with the bombing of JSX Building.

The joint team of the National Police and the Military Police investigating the bombing have so far detained five civilians and five soldiers, including a member of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and another of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus), for questioning.

The team is working on a theory that the bombing was also connected with the grenade explosion at the Malaysian Embassy in August. Ten people were killed at the JSX building bomb blast while no one was hurt in the Malaysian Embassy explosion. (02)