Face of OPM Leader Dejang Heluka, who killed eight gold miners in Yahukimo

In a video received by detikcom, Dejang Heluka and his accomplices stand beside one of the victims’ bodies. He says the killings are to avenge the deaths of his comrades not long ago. ‘I’ve told you yesterday, you take two lives, but I will fight back, as many as you killed,’ Dejang Heluka says in the video recording, reported by detikSulsel on Thursday, 21 May 2026. Two OPM members referred to are Yoper Payage and Marten Heluka. Both died in a gunfight with security forces in Dekai District, Yahukimo on Saturday, 17 May last week. The Information Team of the TNI’s Habema Sector, Captain Sus Dewa Puspanegara, has confirmed that the killings were carried out by Dejang Heluka’s group together with Kopitua Heluka’s group. He says the two have not been new to violence in Yahukimo. ‘One of them was the murder of a Toraja man who worked there; he was beheaded and killed.’ As is known, the eight gold miners were previously killed in the Korowai region of Yahukimo Regency on Wednesday, 20 May. In addition to avenging their comrades’ deaths, the OPM killed the victims because they were suspected of being security personnel in disguise at the location.