Bali Police Strictly Guard the Entrance from Gilimanuk to Padangbai

BADUNG - The Bali Police are closely guarding several points that are the entrances to the island of Bali to anticipate potential security threats during the series of G20 activities.

The Head of the Bali Police, Inspector General Putu Jayan Danu Putra, said his party had placed personnel at points that were the entrances to the island of Bali to monitor the situation and check on visitors.

"We are preventively at the entrances, starting from Gilimanuk, Padangbai, Benoa, Celukan Bawang, as well as at the airport (I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport) as the entrance to Bali. We also place open and closed police officers who carry out operations supervision, routine checks, and observations based on the information we received", said Putu Jayan in Badung, Bali, Monday, September 12.

Regarding prevention and prosecution of potential terror threats, he continued, the Bali Police coordinated with the Special Anti-Terror Detachment (Densus) 88 of the National Police Headquarters. Attention to the potential for acts of terrorism, he added, is an integral part of every security operation for the G20 activities in Bali.

"It is an integral part of our operation which will take place from December 2021 until the end of November 2022. Especially for contingency issues, high-intensity crimes, we are backed up by the National Police Headquarters, Densus 88, whose function is to detect pockets (terrorists) and people to watch out for", he explained.

If certain groups or people are deemed threatening, he added, Densus 88 will take firm action.

The issue of terrorism in Bali became a concern after the Densus 88 team searched the house of a suspected terrorist of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) network in Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday (6/9). Densus 88 searched the house of a suspected terrorist with the initials FI after the owner of the house was arrested in Lumajang, East Java.

Regarding the situation, Putu ensured that the Bali Police gave serious attention to all potential threats.

"The evidence is that there is something, a small thing, before it happened, we made efforts (to prevent). This has been done by Densus 88 to carry out security activities. This is a comprehensive and planned activity", he said.

The police have also placed surveillance cameras (CCTV) equipped with the ability to recognize faces (face recognition) and vehicle number plates (license plate recognition).

"We have installed CCTV which is already integrated from the entrances, as well as at the activity locations", he added.

The Bali Police Chief also asked for community support to actively monitor the situation around his residence.

"I, basically, ask for the support of all colleagues from the community, no matter how small the information available; please pass it on to us and together keep the situation safer for the implementation of our G20", said Putu Jayan.