JAKARTA (AFX) - The Indonesian military has denied involvement in a plot to smuggle arms into the country from the United States after one of its suppliers was arrested in Hawaii, Agence France-Presse reported.
Last week, US federal prosecutors charged Indonesian, Hadianto Joko Juliarso, and Ibrahim Bin Amran of Singapore. Both men face penalties of up to 25 years in prison and fines of more than 1 mln usd.
The two tried to purchase 500,000 usd worth of parts for radar and missile guidance systems on military aircraft and 1 mln usd worth of machine guns, sniper rifles and other weapons, the criminal indictment said.
None of the weapons made it out of the country, prosecutors said.
What Juliarso was doing 'was not ordered by the Indonesian armed forces or any of our branch,' army spokesman Mohammad Sunarto told AFP.
'He is a relatively new supplier since he was listed just over a year ago. Any violation of the US law from his latest business deal has nothing to do with us,' the spokesman said.
The United States resumed full military ties with Indonesia last November.
They were severed over human rights allegations against the military in 1991 when Jakarta's forces launched a bloody crackdown on pro-independence protesters in East Timor.
vt/ag/swp