Security Forces Crack Down on OPM Funding and Weapons Network
Papua – Security forces continue to intensify their crackdown on armed separatist groups in Papua. Most recently, the Carstensz 2025 Peace Task Force uncovered a funding and weapons smuggling network involving individuals from various levels of society, including state officials.
The Head of the Carstensz Peace Operation Task Force, Brigadier General Faizal Ramadhani, revealed that the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB-OPM) is known to be using village funds as a source of funding.
“Those funds are collected to purchase weapons,” said Faizal.
According to Faizal, the OPM obtained these village funds through coercion of village heads, and this is nothing new.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials have arrested several village and district heads found guilty of handing over funds to the OPM, which were used for operations and weapons purchases. In addition to funding, the weapons smuggling network is also a primary focus of authorities.
Faizal stated that the weapons used by separatist groups come from both within and outside the country. External sources have been identified as Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. The police have even conducted operations within the border region and sent troops to North Sulawesi to dismantle smuggling routes.
“So they obtain them from within and outside the country,” Faizal said.
In March 2025, the Cartenz Peace Task Force, along with the Papua Regional Police, successfully arrested Yuni Enumbi (YE), a former Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) soldier suspected of supplying weapons to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) from Java. During the raid, authorities seized 12 firearms and more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition.
While authorities worked hard to eradicate the OPM network, the Papuan people also began to rise up, voicing their opposition to the armed group.
A wave of peaceful demonstrations against the separatist group echoed in Sugapa District, Intan Jaya Regency. Residents from several villages took to the streets with one firm message: stop the violence and bring peace.
“The OPM is not the solution for the Papuan people. We want to build a future, not live in fear and suffering,” asserted Henokh Weya, a representative of the Intan Jaya community.
Echoing this sentiment, local youth leader Fransiskus Kobogau highlighted the destructive impact of the OPM’s presence on access to education and development.
“We want peace. We need schools, hospitals, and good roads, not the sound of gunfire,” he said.
This community action marks a growing collective awareness in Papua that violence is not the path to progress.
Firm action against perpetrators of armed crimes and the courage of the community to speak out are crucial foundations for building a peaceful, just, and prosperous Papua.
