Prime suspect named in Papua raid<\/p>\n
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua<\/p>\n
Police named an alleged commander of the separatist Free Papua
\nMovement (OPM) as a key suspect in last month's armed robbery at
\nthe Wamena military district arsenal which left three men dead
\nand dozens of rifles missing.<\/p>\n
Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Budi Utomo said on Tuesday that
\nalleged OPM commander Michael Haselo, 35, had likely planned the
\narms burglary.<\/p>\n
Michael was one of seven alleged OPM members arrested, along
\nwith nine Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers in Wamena for the
\nburglary. Police said they had moved Michael from the Wamena
\ndistrict police station to the Jayapura police station on April
\n29 for further questioning.<\/p>\n
\"We moved only one (suspect) because we believe that he was
\nthe mastermind behind the attack,\" Budi told reporters.<\/p>\n
Police suspect that OPM rebels were behind the arms raid, and
\npossibly aided by a group of TNI soldiers.<\/p>\n
Michael, Budi said, had told the police that he was the OPM
\ncommander for Wamena, holding the rank of brigadier general.<\/p>\n
He added that Michael might have been involved in other OPM-
\nrelated cases in Wamena, including a violent riot in 2000.<\/p>\n
\"So there are many things that we want to find out from him,
\nwhich is also why we moved him to police headquarters in Papua,\"
\nhe explained.<\/p>\n
The raid against the Wamena arsenal on April 4, left two
\nsoldiers and one suspected OPM rebel dead. At least 13 M-16
\nrifles, 13 SP-1 rifles and three PM rifles along with thousands
\nof rounds of ammunition were taken by the robbers.<\/p>\n
The police investigators, however, also suspected several
\nmembers of the military stationed at Wamena, due to the ease with
\nwhich the group had pulled off the raid.<\/p>\n
The military police unit of the Trikora Military Command,
\nwhich oversees Papua, has arrested nine soldiers. They said three
\nsoldiers might have helped directly in the theft, while the other
\nsix were charged with negligence.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one of the 29 stolen rifles have been recovered in an
\noperation involving 144 soldiers from the Army's Special Forces
\n(Kopassus) and the Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad). They were
\nflown in from Jakarta to help the local military in the hunt for
\nthe weapons.<\/p>\n
A lawyer representing Michael dismissed police claims that his
\nclient was the mastermind behind the attack.<\/p>\n
\"How could he possibly have been the mastermind? I have
\nwitnesses who saw Michael Haselo sleeping at the time (of the
\nattack),\" said lawyer Iwan K. Nidoen.<\/p>\n
He also refuted police claims that they had nabbed Michael,
\nsaying the alleged OPM commander actually turned himself in to
\nshow that he was innocent after he learned that the police were
\nsearching for him.<\/p>\n
Iwan added that, just because Michael claimed to be the Wamena
\ncommander of OPM did not mean that he masterminded the raid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/prime-suspect-named-in-papua-raid-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}