Manokwari, Papua – A total of 6 individuals belonging to the syndicate trading improvised firearms trade network in West Papua were detained by the Manokwari Police.
“Six individuals have been detained along with 12 improvised firearms as evidence,” said Manokwari Police Chief, Grand Commissioner Rivadin Benny Simangunsong.
The arrest of the 6 is a result of investigation by the Operations team of the Criminal Investigation Division of Manokwari City Police which began with a citizen who acted as a buyer with the initials YI on 2 October 2023.
West Papua Police Chief, Inspector General Daniel TM Silitonga requested that this be dealt with immediately because the circulation of firearms that are distributed and traded to civilians has become a threat.
“This is a threat, immediately investigate where the circulation of these improvised firearms is and they must be confiscated,” said the Chief at the Manokwari Police headquarters. He also suspected that these weapons have been circulating for quite some time and requested that civilians who had bought improvised firearms turn them over to law enforcement officials.
“The manufacture of these firearms has been going on for 1 year, it is possible that hundreds of guns have been produced and circulated in the West Papua region even in Southwest Papua,” he said. The Chief also added, “It should be handed over to the authorities, because there is no reason for civilians to control firearms because they have the potential to be misused.”
West Papua Police Chief, Inspector General Daniel TM Silitonga emphasised that he did not want to speculate on the connection between ammunition suppliers in the production of improvised firearms in Manokwari with the Armed Criminal Groups which has been disturbing the community after reviewing the 12 firearms which also contained four rounds of ammunition.
“I don’t want to have an opinion or surmise something that is not based on reality. We will see the development of the investigation,” he said at the Manokwari Polresta headquarters. “There are four rounds of ammunition, from the physical appearance it is suspected to be 5.56 mm calibre, but this is still under investigation and the origins of the ammunition cannot be revealed to the public,” said the Police Chief.
Grand Commissioner Rivadin Benny Simangunsong was ordered to complete the investigation of this case. “Some have been bought by civilians from the South Manokwari Regency to the Arfak Mountains,” said Rivadin. Therefore, prevention is needed so that this threat does not cause worry in the community. According to information from the results of the examination of the six perpetrators, improvised firearms have been sold to civilians in a number of areas outside Manokwari Regency even via mobile phones.
“We have confiscated the cell phones of the 6 perpetrators and it turns out that there were other individuals who ordered these firearms,” said the Grand Commissioner without mentioning the identities of the individuals who illegally ordered.
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