An officer from the Nduga subprecinct police station in Nduga regency, Papua, First Brig. Tanggam Jikwa, has been dismissed from his unit for having violated ethics and discipline as a member of the National Police.
The police's code of ethics commission head, Comr. Irwan Sunurdin, said Tanggam was proven guilty of selling ammunition to an armed civilian group at Papua's Pegunungan Tengah region.
"Tanggam was proven to have repeatedly committed violations. He was proven guilty of having violated rules; therefore, we sanctioned him in accordance with Article 22 of the National Police decree No.14/2014 on the permanent dismissal of a National Police member," said Irwan when he read out the commission's ruling during a code of ethics session in Jayapura, Papua, on Monday.
Tanggam was arrested in Wamena on Sunday, together with the armed group leaders, Rambo Wendan and Rambo Tolikara, as well as several other members.
During the raid, Tanggam was caught red-handed selling 29 rounds of ammunition worth Rp 3.5 million (US$287.64). The Nduga Police officers later found 231 rounds of assault rifle (SS1) ammunition when they searched Tanggam's house.
During the investigation, Tanggam admitted he had sold ammunition to the armed group, saying that he was forced to do it in the hope that he could get his firearm back, which was lost in 2013.
Tanggam said he lost his revolver when riding on a two-wheeled vehicle with a local resident. Tanggam then began to make friends with the local armed civilian group in hopes of getting his lost revolver returned to him.
In April, Tanggam sold 18 rounds of ammunition to the Rambo Tolikara group, from which he earned Rp 600,000. Tanggam never had his revolver returned by the armed group by the time he was arrested on Sunday.
Tanggam was reported to have committed ethical and discipline violations three times. In 2011, he was detained for 21 days for having been proved careless in carrying out his duties so that a prisoner was able to flee from a detention facility. Tanggam was also reported to have once been involved in a fight with a police officer colleague and had often run around drunk.
Apart from the code of ethics trial, Tanggam also will face charges in front of the Jayapura District Court. (ebf)