This sort of excuse might work in America, but not in Indonesia.
Yesterday, Police in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) arrested a 42-year-old civil servant, identified by his initials JAB, for carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. JAB was spotted carrying the long barreled rifle while riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by another man, identified as MR, at around 1 am.
A local who saw JAB carrying the gun informed the police, who quickly gave chase and caught JAB (fortunately without causing any sort of shootout).
The head of criminal investigations for the NTT Police, Yudi Sinlaeloe, said that the explanation given by JAB for driving around with the gun in the middle of the night was not the most convincing.
“From the results of our interim examination, JAB claimed to use the long-barreled firearm to hunt deer ,” said Yudi told reporters yesterday as quoted by Kompas.
Yudi said police doubted that JAB would be carrying an AK-47 simply for hunting. He also noted that neither man was a member of Perbakin (the Indonesian Shooting Association). At any rate, Yudi said JAB did not have a proper license for the AK-47 and was therefore guilty of illegal possession of a firearm, which carries a potential jail sentence of up to three years. An investigation into how JAB acquired the rifle is still ongoig
Indonesia has very strict gun control laws and firearms licenses are only given out to member of the police and military, although there are actually exceptions for business people and politicians. But even in those cases, the applicants are required to go through strict background checks and mental health evaluations.
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