Police intensify probe into Aceh blackouts

Police intensify probe into Aceh blackouts

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Provincial Police have stepped up their
investigations into electricity blackouts which hit Aceh over the
past few days amid violence on Thursday that claimed the lives of
two officers and injured several others.

"We are in the process of questioning the depot chiefs of both
(state-owned oil and gas company) Pertamina and (state
electricity company) PLN," spokesman of police's Cinta Meunasah
operation Sr. Comr. Kusbini Imbar told The Jakarta Post by phone
from Banda Aceh on Thursday.

The two depot chiefs were separately questioned on Wednesday
and Thursday following a boycott from Pertamina workers to load
fuel supplies which led to a power blackout in the capital, Banda
Aceh as well as regencies, West Aceh and Pidie.

"We are trying to figure out the real reasons behind their
reluctance to supply the fuel.

"Initially, Pertamina officers said that there had been
threats from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels while
the PLN officers said the blackout was due to old and inadequate
power generators... which is absurd as the generators were not
able to work due to the lack of fuel supplies," Kusbini said.

None of Pertamina nor PLN officials in Aceh were willing to
give a statement on Thursday.

Sources, however, said that some officials in Pertamina were
trying to pile up the fuel stock, waiting for the price to go up.

"Basically Pertamina and PLN must be responsible as people
have suffered due to the blackout. Such an incident could have
killed patients in operating rooms," the officer said.

Long lines of vehicles queuing for gasoline were still seen in
Banda Aceh and several parts of the city on Thursday.

Military and police trucks were used to transport staple food
into the capital of North Aceh, Lhokseumawe while in other
regencies the officers also escorted the convoy of fuel supplies.

Meanwhile, in restive Pidie regency a member of Pekanbaru
Military District named First Sgt. Syahrul Sinaga was shot in the
back and chest while another civilian named Gunawan got shot in
both legs around 3:15 p.m. local time at Simpang Pesantren Bambi
subdistrict by two gunmen.

Syahrul and Gunawan were rushed to Sigli General Hospital for
further treatment.

"Syahrul and Gunawan were on motorbikes when the two gunmen
intercepted them," Kusbini said later in the day, adding that
details of the incident have not yet been recorded.

In East Aceh, a police officer named Second Brig. Ibrahim was
gunned down in the Sungai Pauh near Kuala Langsa Port on Thursday
morning, he added.

"Ibrahim got shot twice in the chest and the head. He died
instantly on the scene," the officer said.

In Aceh Besar, a policeman named Second Brig. Satrya Puji was
found dead with severe cut wounds to his head in front of a Kuta
Alam elementary school around 7 a.m. on Thursday.

"The victim was assigned to Pidie Police Precinct and suddenly
he turns up dead in Aceh Besar," Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr.
Comr. Sayed Husaini said later in the day. (edt/50/51)