The Jakarta Post, Batam, Tuesday September 23 2014,
Army chief of staff Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo has ordered 500 standard-issue rifles belonging to Tuah Sakti 134 battalion personnel to be returned to a warehouse to avoid the possibility of retaliation following a shooting that injured four soldiers during a fuel-smuggling raid in Batam.
“As a precautionary measure, I have ordered them [the battalion] to pile up their rifles at the warehouse,” Gatot said on Tuesday.
He added that he had also appointed a joint team to conduct an investigation into the shooting.
However, Gatot declined to on the possibility that the shooting occurred when soldiers, allegedly caught in the illegal act of running a fuel-smuggling syndicate, attempted to resist police.
“Let the joint investigation team finish its job first,” he said.
He added that soldiers showed up merely because their houses were located near the scene of the crime.
National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, who came to Batam to resolve the conflict, said the joint team would need another two weeks to determine the cause of the shootings. In addition, he said police investigators would continue to investigate the fuel-smuggling incident.
On Sunday night, as police executed the raid, two soldiers arrived on the scene. The police suspected the two soldiers were a part of the operation and opened fire before taking them to Riau Islands’ mobile brigade (Brimob) headquarters.
Another two soldiers showed up at the Brimob headquarters requesting the release of their peers, leading to more shots fired by police.
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di 23 sep 2014 - 23:18