Police to send officers to RP

JAKARTA: The police are planning to send two officers to the Philippines soon to seek information on a report that four Indonesian boat crewmen have been abducted by armed group believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group.

"We will dispatch two police officers to the Philippines," Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar said Sunday.

He did not give the name and rank of the officers and did not say when they will depart.

But Da'i said that the officers will be sent not to intervene in the investigation by the Philippine Police but just to seek more complete information on the abductions.

"We cannot intervene in the investigation, but in our officers can seek more complete information in the Philippines," Da'i was quoted by Antara as saying.

The police, according to Da'i, have already contacted the Philippine police regarding the abductions.

Four Indonesians were on July 17 kidnapped by armed men believed to be from an Abu Sayyaf faction in the southern island of Jolo. One was reported to have escaped and has been rescued by the military in the Philippines. -- Antara