Top detective tasked to probe terror in Poso
Top detective tasked to probe terror in Poso
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police have assigned one of their top detectives
to resolve the fresh terror attacks in Poso, Central Sulawesi,
and help ensure stability in the conflict-prone area.
Deputy chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Gorries Mere and several
senior police officers from Jakarta arrived on Monday in the
provincial capital of Palu and immediately held a closed-door
meeting with Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Oegroseno
in the airport's VIP room before heading for Poso, state news
agency Antara reported.
Gorries has played a key role in the crackdown on terrorist
cells in the country and led the successful raid on Nov. 9
against terrorist Azahari bin Husin's hideout in Central Java.
The Malaysian bomb-maker was killed during the raid conducted by
the elite counterterror police force Detachment 88.
"Gorries is being assigned to Poso to enforce the law,"
National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said on Tuesday.
"Along with Gorries, a team of police officers (from Jakarta)
will also be in Poso to ensure that all parties responsible for
the mess in the town face legal sanctions," Sutanto said.
Sutanto on Monday told lawmakers that the attacks in Poso were
conducted by an "organized group" that had moved to the
provincial capital of Palu from Poso in a bid to reignite
Christian-Muslim conflict in the region.
Human rights activists said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
must give his political support to the police to ensure they
arrested the group, which the activists said could be backed by
powerful individuals in the area.
Gorries first made national news when he led a team
investigating the Oct. 12, 2002, bomb attacks in Bali, which
claimed 202 lives, mostly Australian tourists.
He was also responsible for investigating the Oct. 1 bombs in
Bali this year that killed 23 people.
Poso was the scene of bloody conflict between Muslims and
Christians between 2000 and 2001 that claimed more than 1,000
lives. It has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks during
the past couple of weeks.
They began with the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls
by a group of up to six assailants in October. A fourth girl
survived that attack but was seriously wounded.
On Nov. 8, two men on a motorcycle shot two high school girls
in the head, critically injuring them. Both are still alive.
When local police intensified security in Poso, the terror
attacks moved to Palu, where a Christian couple were shot by
unidentified men while walking home from a church service on
Saturday. They too survived, however, a 23-year-old woman was not
so lucky; killed after she was slashed by a machete-wielding
motorcyclist earlier last week.
Poso Police had detained one man allegedly involved in the
beheading case, only to release him on Tuesday due to a lack of
evidence, Antara said.
Irfan Masaro, 23, was first arrested by local Army soldiers
together with four other men last month. But after seven days in
detention, all the men were released due to a lack of evidence.
The Army was criticized at the time for not handing over the
suspects to police.