The firearms belonged to the residents of Sei Seria Village in Ketungau Hulu Sub-district, near the Indonesia-Malaysia border, the task force's commander, Lt Col Edi Yulian Budiargo stated here, Wednesday.
The customary law community members had voluntarily handed over their home-made firearms owing to their self-awareness of the three border security task force posts, he noted.
The Sei Seria post received seven rifles while the task force's tactical command post and Sei Tekam post received one rifle respectively, he revealed.
On behalf of his people, the Sei Seria tribal leader, Ranggut, 57, gave one of the illegal firearms to the task force personnel, he stated while adding that the firearms would later be destroyed.
The Indonesian Government has strictly regulated the ownership of firearms in the country. Those misusing the ownership of firearms are subject to special criminal charges as stipulated in Article 1 (1) of the Emergency Law No.12 of 1951 on Weaponry, he remarked.
"We continue to educate our people to make them understand about the danger and potential breach of law. The fall of those illegal firearms into the hands of wrong persons is dangerous," he cautioned.
Meanwhile, the Sei Seria tribal leader, Ranggut, said he thanked the task force personnel, who had educated his people, and made them voluntarily hand over their home-made rifles to the Indonesian Military (TNI).
"On behalf of residents of Sei Seria Village, I thank members of the border security task force for their contribution to make us well aware of the dangers of having illegal firearms," he affirmed.
ANTARA had reported earlier that home-made firearms remain a problem in Indonesia.
In June 2017, for instance, the Indonesian Police seized three thousand home-made firearms from several illegal gunmakers in Lampung, South Sumatra, and West Java.
At that time, in order to stop its distribution, the police conducted raids on a domestic firearms industry in two bordering regions of Sumatra and in Cipacing, West Java.
The raids were launched following two fatal incidents of robbery in the provinces of Jakarta and Banten, where the criminals shot dead their victims. The police also detained some illegal gunmakers.
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Translator: T.Timotius, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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