"According to the commander of Formed Police Unit (FPU VIII), they did not belong to them," head of public information of Indonesia Police (Polri), Senior Commissioner Martinus Sitompul said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesia Police confirmed here on Monday that a number of arms allegedly smuggled through Al Fashir airport in Sudan did not belong to the Indonesian peacekeeping force.

"According to the commander of Formed Police Unit (FPU VIII), they did not belong to them," head of public information of Indonesia Police (Polri), Senior Commissioner Martinus Sitompul, said at the Polri Headquarters.

Regarding the chronology of the incident, he explained that the incident happened when FPU VIII personnel, after being replaced by FPU IX, were preparing to return to Indonesia after their service had ended.

"They were preparing to leave Garuda Camp that day," he said.

In the camp, the belongings of the FPU VIII personnel were checked by The UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid) authorities. After this, they were transferred to two containers. Forty FPU personnel escorted the containers until they arrived at Al Fashir airport.

"These people helped unload the goods. They entered the X-Ray room for checks and all passed," he added.

Not far from the location of where the goods were kept, there was a suitcase that Sudan police believed belonged to the Indonesian force.

"When inquired by Sudan police, the Indonesian forces said the suitcase did not belong to them. The suitcase did not have the Indonesian force label on it," he remarked.

The suitcase was then checked by X-Ray and was found to contain arms. Hence, there was finally an accusation that FPU VIII had attempted to smuggle the weapons.

The return of all members of FPU VIII was delayed due to the incident.

"They were not arrested, but their return was delayed. They stayed in a transit camp there, because the Garuda Camp had already been occupied by FPU IX," he noted.

Earlier, it was reported that the government of North Darfur had said that the Indonesian police force in the Unamid had been arrested on Friday (Jan 20) at Al Fashir airport for allegedly attempting to smuggle arms and ammunition camouflaged as rare minerals.

According to the Sudanese Media Center, the arms included 29 Kalashnikovs, four guns, six GM3 and 61 pistols of various types and a large number of various kinds of ammunition. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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