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JAKARTA - Two Indonesian police officers went on trial on Thursday charged with selling firearms to alleged Islamist extremists from a group dubbed "Al-Qaeda in Aceh", which plotted a series of attacks in Jakarta.
Prosecutors said Tatang Mulyadi and Abdi Tunggal bin Adam, logistics officers who guarded the national police warehouse, where weapons were stored, sold firearms to alleged militants through a middleman on 26 occasions.
"Tatang Mulyadi and Abdi Tunggal bin Adam sold a total number of 28 firearms, including rifles such as AK-47, several revolvers, 19,999 bullets," prosecutor M. Nasir told the East Jakarta district court.
The men received about 191 million rupiah (21,000 dollars) from the sale of the weapons, he added.
"They two accused had taken out firearms and bullets from the national police warehouse and sold them to others illegally and without official permit," Nasir said.
"The weapons were then used for the militant training in Aceh. The group sought weapons to be used in robberies as a source of financing for their training camp," Nasir said.
The police officers were among more than 100 people detained after the discovery of a militant training camp in Aceh province, Sumatra, in February.
Some 66 are in custody awaiting trial.
The camp allegedly gathered militants from various regional groups, including some with links to Al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Indonesian terror mastermind Dulmatin, who was killed by police in March.
Separately, five terror suspects went on trial in West Jakarta district court Thursday charged with plotting to kill Westerners, including US aid workers and tourists, and taking part in a militant training camp.
Four of them face the death penalty.
Aceh is a deeply religious province on the northern tip of Sumatra which was hit by a devastating tsunami in 2004 and was rebuilt with international aid.
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