Timika – Eighteen men have been arrested after an outlawed separatist flag was raised in the Papua province, Indonesian police said Tuesday.

Local police chief Jasim Hoda said several people unfurled the "Free Papua" flag early Tuesday in front of a house in Kwamki Baru village in the Mimika district.

Police raided houses in the neighbourhood and found weapons including dozens of bows and arrows and 10 air rifles.

"The 18 people arrested are all men. We still have to conduct further investigations before naming anyone we suspect of plotting against the state," Hoda told reporters.

Anyone convicted of displaying separatist symbols faces life in prison in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago with a history of secessionist rebellions.

Indonesia won sovereignty over Papua, a former Dutch colony on the western half of New Guinea island, in 1969 after a vote among a select group of Papuans widely seen as a sham.

Papuans have long accused Indonesia's military of violating human rights in the province and complain that the bulk of earnings from its rich natural resources flow to Jakarta.