Wiranto to Summon Tito, Gatot to Discuss Brimob Weapons Import
2 October 2017 20:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto said that he will call the Chief of Police Gen. Tito Karnavian and TNI Commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo as well as a number of officials from state security agencies to discuss the issue of weapons purchase for the Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob).
The security agencies are the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Defense Ministry, PT Pindad, and Customs.
"I will not speak of the weapons issue yet. We will discuss this internally. The plan is to have a meeting tomorrow," he said after a cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Monday, October 2.
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Wiranto said arms imports are not a problem. However, in the meeting, he will coordinate security agencies to be more transparent and thorough, and not violate the law.
The arms imports issue surfaced several days ago when weapons imported from Bulgaria was held at the UNEX Warehouse of Soekarno-Hatta Airport's cargo area on Friday, September 29. The weapons we held because the cargo did not obtain a recommendation from the TNI's Strategic Intelligence Agency.
Among the weapons were 208 pieces of Arsenal Stand Alone Grenade Launcher (SAGL) and 5,932 pieces of ammunition. The police claimed that the weapons are theirs and will be used for the Brimob Corps.
Wiranto requested that the weapons issue is not turned into a political commodity. He guaranteed that the import of such weapons would not interfere with national security.
AMIRULLAH