Two soldiers arrested for supplying arms to GAM

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)