Police capture suspect in murder of Palu prosecutor

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu

Police have arrested a suspect in last week's murder of public prosecutor Ferry Silalahi, who helped try terrorism cases in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

The suspect, identified only by his initial "E", was captured late on Tuesday night in Ampibabo, Parigi Moutong, some 150 kilometers north of Palu, sources connected with local police said on Wednesday.

They said E, who was believed to have been one of the men who carried out the murder under orders, was being interrogated by a joint team set up by the Palu and Central Sulawesi Police offices.

However, police refused to reveal the results of the investigation into the suspect, who was arrested by a special squad led by Palu Police deputy chief Comr. Sambas Kurniawan.

Ferry, 46, was shot dead shortly after 10:00 p.m. on May 26 in his car outside a house on Jl. Swadaya in Tana Modindi, South Palu, just after attending an evening church service there along with his wife, Yulia.

Yulia, who survived the incident, said four men with long hair and dark skin carried out the deadly attack.

Police said they were continuing the search for other suspects and sketches of two of the men had been posted across the province.

The murder prompted the National Police to provide officers to guard prosecutors and judges in Palu and other conflict areas.

Palu is about 200 kilometers from Poso -- an area that has recently experienced a string of attacks by unidentified gunmen.

Ferry had been working in Palu for over a year and had dealt with dozens of cases involving corruption and terrorism.

However, a police source told The Jakarta Post the interrogation had yet to show whether Ferry's murder had any relation to the cases he had handled.

Ferry had prosecuted the cases of three suspected terrorists, Firmansyah, Fajri and Aang Hasanuddin in Palu.

Firmansyah and Fajri were sentenced to five years for aiding and abetting a Bali bombing suspect, Achmad Roichan, while Aang was jailed for three years for not informing police of the activities of the other two.

Ferry was also in charge in a team of prosecutors that was to try a major corruption case against Ambo Dalle, director of the Central Sulawesi village cooperatives center, which involved billions of rupiah.

During his tenure at the Tangerang Prosecutor's Office in Banten, Ferry prosecuted Ang Kim Soei, who was sentenced to death in 2003 for operating an ecstasy laboratory, reported to be one of Southeast Asia's largest.