Police arrest three alleged provocateurs in Poso riot

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)