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Police have seized more than 130 sharp weapons during a series of raids targeting ferry passengers heading to Ambon in Malaku in a bid to prevent further violence in the restive province.

At least seven people were killed in clashes on Sunday that were sparked by rumors that a Muslim motorcycle driver had been tortured to death by Christians. The driver died in a road accident but the rumor spread quickly, to deadly effect.

“We have conducted raids looking for any sharp weapons and guns carried by passengers [on ships] heading to Ambon from Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi and South East Sulawesi,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said.

He added that no one had been charged for carrying weapons and that everyone questioned was immediately released.

“Some of these sharp weapons are linked to the owners’ professions like carpentry,” Anton said, adding that police were still running background checks on the passengers.

East Java Police spokesman Rachmat Mulyana said only a few people had come forward for the knives and machetes seized at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya.

“We don’t know the stories behind most of the sharp weapons found because no one has claimed to be their owners,” he said.

Police, he added, could not investigate further because of the vast number of passengers on the boats.

Most of the 7,000 passengers bound for Ambon on the KM Ciremai had been waiting for days to board the vessel, which had been delayed by bad weather and rough seas.

Most of the people searched were aggravated by the hold-up as passengers rushed to be the first on board.

“We can’t hold them much longer because they have been waiting for days [to board]. Although we cannot investigate further we will alert the Maluku Police,” Rachmat said.

Police also confiscated a gun that fires ball bearings.

The National Police’s chief detectives, Comr. Gen. Sutarman, said the situation in Ambon was now “under control.” Police, he said, are examining the scene of the motorcycle accident and places where people were killed in the violence.

Sutarman said no suspects had been named but police were tracing the text messages believed to have sparked the violence back to the original senders.

Neta S. Pane, chairman of Indonesian Police Watch, a nongovernmental watchdog, said National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo should fire Maluku Police Chief Brig. Gen. Syarief Gunawan for failing to prevent the violence from occurring.

“[Syarief] should have prevented the riot by staging regular talks with community and religious leaders, especially considering Ambon’s history of conflict,” Neta told the Jakarta Globe. “The provincial police’s Babinkantibmas [Security and Order Management Unit] and intelligence should have recognized the potential for conflict early on.”

Neta added that the police should use non-lethal approaches to quell public disorder in Ambon and prevent it from spreading.

“Using live rounds will only worsen the situation and could spark further violence,” he said.

In 1950 Ambon was the center of an uprising against rule from Jakarta caused by a rebellion of the Republic of South Moluccas.

From 1999 to 2001 violence once again returned to the area in the form of sectarian clashes that left an estimated 9,000 Christians and Muslims dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.