The Jakarta Post, April 28, 2004
Hundreds of bombs, weapons confiscated in Poso arms
searches
Ruslan Sangadji, Poso
A joint police and military unit found at least 168 homemade bombs, 102 firearms and
485 live bullets during three months of door-to-door searches for weapons since
January in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi.
Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha could not give an exact figure on
Tuesday for the number of weapons confiscated during a follow-up operation this
month.
However, among the arms seized this month were a live hand grenade, two revolvers,
a bayonet and 27 bows, he added.
The arms searches were launched to prevent more attacks across Poso and
neighboring Manokwari regency. There has been a series of attacks recently by
"unidentified" gunmen despite the signing of a peace accord in December 2001.
The latest attack was on a church in Kilo village, Poso Pesisir subdistrict, which
injured six Christians during Easter services on April 10.
Earlier, gunmen shot dead the Reverend Ferdy Wuisan and injured a woman lecturer,
Rosia Pilongo, from the Poso-based Sintuwu Maroso University (Unsimar).
The police have distributed sketches of the suspected attackers, who are believed to
be living in Poso under the protection of certain hard-liners.
"We suspect that the perpetrators have not gone away, but are still in Poso," Taufik
said.
He said the police had identified one of the motorcycles used in the April 10 shooting
-- a Suzuki Shogun with registration numbeer DN-2769-EF.
The public has been asked to immediately inform local police stations if the come
across such a motorcycle.
In an effort to curb further violence, some 800 Muslims, Christians and Hindus from
Poso Pesisir gathered on April 26 to discuss peace along with senior figures from the
Central Sulawesi government, police and military.
The gathering was held in the hall of the SMK Negeri I senior high school in the
subdistrict for the purpose of finding a way to end the attacks.
Local Islamic leader N. Lanantju said a "security disturbance group" was to blame for
the recent shooting incidents, adding that Muslims were also the victims.
"Such violence does not reflect the feelings of Muslims. These are savage and
inhuman acts. Therefore, I call on all of us to wake up and to fight those security
disturbers," he told the meeting.
Local Christian leader Jhon Tongku concurred, saying the perpetrators were not real
Muslims, but a handful of people who did not want see peace in Poso.
Senior official Gumyadi, who represented the Central Sulawesi governor during the
meeting, urged local people to help restore and maintain security in Poso.
"Maintaining security is not only the responsibility of the authorities. Everybody is
responsible for this," he said.
Meanwhile, the chief of Poso's special security operation, Sr. Comr. M. Rum, was
replaced by Sr. Comr. Tatang Somantri, currently the Central Sulawesi Police's chief
of detectives.
Rum will return to the Mobile Brigade paramilitary police headquarters in Kelapa Dua
in Jakarta after being replaced on April 26.
On Monday, he officially handed over his baton to Tatang during a modest ceremony
at Poso police headquarters.
Taufik said that Rum's replacement was part of a normal rotation as his six-month
term ended this month. He stressed that it had nothing to do with the renewed
violence in Poso.
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