Police arrest three alleged provocateurs in Poso riot

PALU, Central Sulawesi (JP): Central Sulawesi Police have arrested eight alleged rioters, of whom three are suspected provocateurs, in the recent communal clashes in Poso.

Chief of the Central Sulawesi Police Col. Soeroso told a media briefing on Monday that the alleged provocateurs now in police custody were identified only as Yen, 25, Raf, 20, and Leo, 21.

"One is a woman. The three were caught instigating the riots on May 23, in which three residents were killed," Soeroso said, adding that police would continuing working to discover the mastermind.

Police recorded 47 fatalities in the protracted communal clashes which first broke out on May 23 and continued until June 4. Hundreds of others were injured.

Police seized more than 4,000 weapons, including assembled guns, sharp weapons, molotov cocktails, homemade bombs and poisonous arrows from the warring camps in the tourist resort located about 224 kilometers southeast of here.

A total of 1,500 police and military troops have been deployed in a bid to prevent further rioting.

Local administration has estimated the losses from the violence at about Rp 50 billion as hundreds of houses as well as public utilities and government offices were either vandalized or burned in the riots.

In a related development, an alleged financial backer of the riots in Poso, identified as Al Lateka, was found dead at the site of a riot in the Kayaman area in Poso on Friday, police said.

"He was the main suspect in this riot," Soeroso said. However, he refused to elaborate.

Provincial administration spokesman Longki Djanggola said Al Lateka -- an engineer who once headed the supervision and control division of the Regional Investment Coordinating Board (BKPMD) here -- acknowledged to police that he spent over Rp 30 million to finance the riots.

"It is not clear whether Al Lateka was shot dead by the police or other parties. But the police gave us an official report that his body was found in Poso on June 2," Longki said on Monday.

"Once he (Al Lateka) called the provincial police chief and bluntly told police that he paid for the third phase of riots in Poso which began on May 23. After that he went missing," the official added.

Meanwhile, an uneasy calm returned to Poso on Monday, as police continued a sweep of the area in a bid to restore order. "Most of the shops are still closed and people are afraid to go out at night. It's like a ghost town when night falls," Longki said.

Tension, however, still gripped Sayotoini, Lage and Gayoyama subdistricts as crowds often gather there. "We really hope for things to get normal again," he said.

Many believe sectarian conflict that spread across the town was linked to the communal clashes which have rocked Maluku since January 1999. (27/edt)