Slain shooter smuggled guns from Indonesia?

MANILA, Philippines - The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) is investigating reports that slain Philippine practical shooting team member Michael Lontoc smuggled guns from Indonesia, an official said yesterday.

NCRPO chief Director Alan Purisima admitted that international gun smuggling syndicates are using the country as transshipment point in their operations and Lontoc’s group might be among them.

“There are international gun smuggling syndicates operating here. We are still investigating whether Lontoc’s group is one of them,” said Purisima, noting that several gun shipments confiscated by military and police operatives in the past originated from Indonesia.

Purisima issued his reaction after Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa expressed concern last week over the continuing smuggling of firearms between his country and the Philippines.

“Illicit transfer of firearms is certainly one issue that we’re keen to address,” said Natalegawa, adding that the problem was among the many issues that he raised with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.

The Indonesian official, who visited the country last week, feared that these loose firearms may end up in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization in the southern Philippines whose members carried out bombing and kidnapping operations in the past.

The Philippines accounts for the proliferation of over 1.1 million small arms and light weapons out of the estimated 640 million illegal firearms worldwide, according to a Geneva-based research center.

A source claimed that Lontoc’s group got their PT Pindad rifle supplies from Indonesia but were not selling them to local buyers but to their clients in South Africa. PT Pindad rifles, manufactured in Indonesia, look like Russian-made AK-47 rifles but are fitted with bullets from American-made Armalite rifles.

Lontoc was on his way home after participating in a shooting competition in Malabon when four gunmen shot him last Sept. 25. His widow, Lennie, 30, claimed her husband wanted out of the syndicate and was killed in the process.

Investigators filed administrative and criminal charges against Police Officer 2 Christopher Agustin of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for his failure to “act accordingly during Lontoc’s ambush.” Several witnesses claimed Agustin, who is now detailed as security escort of former interior secretary Ronaldo Puno, was a few meters away when Lontoc was shot but did not go after the suspects. Agustin also participated in the shooting competition Lontoc joined.