Arms seized in

New Caledonia

Arms seized in New Caledonia

WHEN customs officers routinely checked the passports of two New Caledonians in Metz (north-east of

France) in February, they were far

from thinking that this would lead to the largest seizing of guns, weapons and ammunition in New Caledonia, not to mention the recovery of hundreds of stolen passports.

The two men carried a stolen check for US$2B,OOO and their passports were

forged. The police in Metz immediately

linked their case with the audacious theft, in Noumea in August 1991, of hundreds of blank passports, identity cards, official stamps and passport

applications. This very “professional”

action by people who knew what they were looking for had remained un solved for three years.

From the information the French police got from the two New Cale donians (one of whom had connections

with anti-independence right-wing

militants in the Eighties in New Caledonia), the gendarmes launched a raid, on March 3, on two different places in Noumea a container stored in the industrial site of Ducos, and a garage in the residential sector of Ouemo. The missing passports were stocked there, but not alone there were also guns, ammunitions, explos ives, and all sorts of equipment that can be used either by skilled gangsters or commandos.

Three men (including the owner of the company where the container was located) were questioned. Two of them have been charged with theft. The third one is has been released with no

charges.

This affair caused a big surprise in New Caledonia. On March 5, the prosecutor of the republic gave a press

conference, during which he detailed the incredible seizure of the gendarmes 12 pistols, 13 revolvers, one auto matic pistol, 10 guns, 16 rifles, 4000 rounds of ammunition, nearly half a tonne of lead, 75 kilos of powder, eight sticks of dynamite, 38 grenades, various types of explosives, three oxyacetylene cutting torches, generators, 11 hoods, two wigs, 12 complete fatigue outfits etc ... plus two brand new motorbikes and a four-wheel vehicle. Some of the equipment, said the prosecutor, had been recently stolen in Noumea.

All these explosives reminded many New Caledonians of the political viol ence of the Eighties many serious bombings had taken place at that time and remained unsolved. On the same night of December ’B5 for instance, half of the Noumea court was blown up, and an explosion in the protestant high school (known as openly pro

independent) narrowly missed killing

students by.

The big task now facing the investi gators is to find out the origin of the arms and equipment. Were they pur chased, stolen, or traded for passports?

Have new arms been recently shipped to New Caledonia after the end of the violence in ’88? Were they kept by

gangsters, nostalgic far-right militants

or future potential activities? All violent action committed on political grounds before August 20, 1988 have been amnestied, according to the law passed on January 10, 1990.

Both the Metz and Noumea cases will be handled by the same magistrate in Noumea. The two New Caledonians (charged and jailed on forgery charges) should be transferred from France to the territory soon. More arrests are probably to be expected in the near future.

New Caledonia: downtown Noumea, the capital city