Dili residents catch two 'ninjas'

Dili residents catch two 'ninjas'

DILI, East Timor: Town residents have caught two hooded men believed to be members of a "ninja" group that roam the streets at night terrorizing pro-independence activists.

Eyewitnesses said one of the hooded men, identifying himself as Da Costa, 22, was caught on Wednesday, and Dominggus, 24, on Thursday night. Both were beaten by a mob before being turned in to the authorities.

The two claimed to be working for the Armed Forces, which they said paid them between Rp 5,000 ($12) and Rp 50,000 a night "just to disturb sleeping people."

But their claim was denied by East Timor police chief Col. Andreas Sugianto. He said that Dominggus was an ordinary citizen beaten up by people who suspected him of being a "ninja".

"There are no ninja in East Timor", he told journalists.

Deputy governor J. Haribowo told The Jakarta Post last week that what the ninja scare was part of, was the rivalry between the pro- and anti-integration (of East Timor into Indonesia) camps.

Olivera, a member of the provincial legislative council said yesterday he believed the ninjas exist and they "belong to the government". They pick up and kill people, he said.

AFP, quoting eyewitnesses, reported yesterday that at least five young Timorese were picked up and, possibly, killed by hooded men on the night of Jan. 9 in Dili.

It said that at dawn on Thursday, a group of hooded men attacked the house of Armandina Gusmao, sister of the East Timorese independence movement's leader Xanana Gusmao, who is serving a 20-year jail term in Jakarta. (yac/pan)