Banjir Ambarita – A Mobile Brigade police officer serving two years in prison for smuggling firearms into West Papua has been dishonorably discharged from the force.

An ethics panel hearing the case, headed by Comr. Sudarsono from the Papua Police, issued its decision against Haeruddin Arifin after a daylong hearing on Saturday.

Haeruddin was recently convicted by the district court in Manokwari, the capital of West Papua, and sentenced to two years in prison.

Saturday's hearing, which was attended by several other Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers, was stopped twice after Haeruddin objected to the charges.

Haeruddin was sentenced to two months in detention in 2005 after a similar panel found him guilty of illegally bringing in 1,500 rounds of ammunition into the area.

The officer told investigators at the time that he had collected the ammunition when on a tour of duty in Aceh between 2004 and 2005. However, he denied charges that he had brought in 21 firearms into Manokwari in the same period.

In March 2011, Haeruddin was found in possession of three handguns and more than a hundred rounds of ammunition.

Papua and West Papua have grappled with a long-running insurgency. There is a heavy police and military presence in the provinces as they battle armed separatists.