Vegas shot dead within E. Timor's territory: Police
Vegas shot dead within E. Timor's territory: Police
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara
East Nusa Tenggara Police chief Edward Aritonang said on
Wednesday former militiaman Vegas Bibilitu was shot dead by East
Timor police within the neighboring country's territory.
"After an investigated at the scene, the shooting incident
took place not within a neutral zone but inside Timor Leste's
territory," he said, referring to Indonesia's former province
East Timor.
Former pro-Jakarta militia leaders and other pro-integration
East Timorese, currently living in East Nusa Tenggara, have
condemned Friday's killing of Vegas at Turiskain village, Raihat
subdistrict, Belu regency.
"As fellow East Timorese citizens, the shooting incident was
extremely savage because it took place within a neutral zone,"
Florencio Mario Viera, spokesman for the Association of Pro-
Indonesia East Timorese People (Untas), claimed on Tuesday.
"Pro-integration East Timorese feel shocked over the loss of
one of the former pro-integration strugglers," he added.
Aritonang said NTT Police would not intervene in the
investigation into the incident, despite the fact the deceased
was a former East Timorese militiaman who became an Indonesian
citizen.
"We ask the Timor Leste police to look into the case because
it took place within their territory," he told journalists in
Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara.
Kupang Wirasakti military chief Col. Moeswarno Moesanif said
on Monday that Vegas was shot near the Balibaca River, which
falls within the Tactical Coordination Zone.
A preliminary investigation showed that Vegas was shot in the
chest while trying to sneak into East Timor across the river,
carrying arrows, he added.
Aritonang said Vegas was killed because he had fired arrows at
East Timorese police officers on patrol.
"The victim was warned from entering East Timor's territory up
to 100 meters away from the border, but he responded by firing
arrows at the East Timor police officers," he was quoted by
Antara as saying.
But Aritonang did not say whether the shooting was justifiable
or not.
He said Vegas' body had been brought to the East Timor capital
Dili for an autopsy before it was handed over to his family in
Turiskain on Monday.
Moesanif accused Vegas of being involved in several cases of
smuggling basic commodities into East Timor.
On Wednesday, Moesanif said Vegas protected illegal
transactions on the border area.
"We ask the Timor Leste government to soon put in order all
black markets in the border area between the two countries to
minimize border conflicts," he said.
Belu authorities temporarily closed Turiskain traditional
market, some two kilometers from the scene, to prevent possible
revenge attacks by former pro-integration East Timorese.
Vegas was a cofounder of the Halilintar militia group based in
Bobonaro regency when East Timor was still part of Indonesia
until it voted for independence in 1999.
He was also known to have once served as a member of the
Indonesian Military (TNI) in East Timor.