Massive haul of weapons
Volume 11, No. 48, July 27, 2006
By Maj James Baker
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Disarming gesture: Maj Tara presents a rifle to Battlegroup Faithful CO Lt-Col Mick Mumford during a ceremonial hand over of weapons at Gleno.
Photo by Sgt John Carroll. |
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Weapons collected
other than firearms
20 hand-made guns;
468 long-edged weapons (swords etc);
431 edged weapons under 30cm;
285 slingshots;
859 steel darts; 189 clubs and rods;
7 bows;
121 arrows;
136 spears;
28 nunchakus;
plus a quantity of assorted picks, axes, screwdrivers, hammers and scissors assessed as potential weapons.. |
TWO truckloads of bladed and other weapons have been confiscated in Dili in the two months since the Australian force arrived.
JTF 631 Commander Brig Mick Slater said the massive haul was evidence that the city was now much safer.
“These weapons were mostly taken from gangs and thugs roaming the streets looking to fight each other or terrorise the community, so one of our top priorities was to take those weapons out of circulation,” Brig Slater said.
“Not counting the firearms we have confiscated or had handed to us, we have collected around 2000 potentially lethal weapons. Throw in some of the stolen riot gear we recovered, and we filled two Unimogs.”
In other developments, automatic weapons have been handed over to Australian and Timorese officials.
In one ceremony, Battlegroup Faithful CO Lt-Col Mick Mumford received weapons handed in by one of the disputing groups in the current crisis, Maj Tara’s “Dissenters”.
They handed in several HK33s to Lt-Col Mumford at Gleno, south of Dili.
B Coy, 3RAR, has been providing security for the “Dissenters” at Gleno for more than a month, and have had control of the weapons for most of that time.
But at Maj Tara’s suggestion, Lt-Col Mumford flew in for a ceremonial handover in front of local and international media.
In another significant weapons handover, “Commander Railos”, the man at the centre of claims about an alleged death squad set up for political purposes, also handed his weapons over to the Timorese government.
