Maluku Regional Police Have Determined 3 Suspects Who Spread The Hoax Of The Burned House Of Worship

The press conference on the determination of the number of hoax spreaders in Tual (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Maluku Regional Police (Polda) through the General Criminal Investigation Directorate (Dirreskrimum) have arrested and named three suspects who spread hoaxes in houses of worship on fire during clashes between residents in Tual on January 31.

Those who have been named as suspects in the crime of spreading this false news are MTR, ABS and ZBN. The three of them have been detained by the Maluku Police at the Tual Police Detention Center.

The Director of Criminal Investigation at the Maluku Police, Kombes Pol Andri Iskandar, in a press statement at the Tual Police, Sunday, said that the first suspect arrested was the initials ZBN. From the results of the examination in question, the suspect who was arrested on Friday, February 3 admitted that he only forwarded the hoax message.

After ZBN, the team again arrested MTR and ABS. The MTR suspect acted as the person who recorded and spread the false information through the WhatsApp group. Furthermore, the hoax message was also distributed by ABS.

"We have also arrested three evidences of cell phones that we confiscated from the suspects and we have held a case title. Then we will conduct an investigation," said Andri, quoted by Antara.

Andri hopes that the residents of Tual City and Southeast Maluku Regency will be wise in using social media. "Because the hoax information distributed will have legal implications," he hoped.

Meanwhile, Tual Police Chief AKBP Prayudha Widiatmoko, said that the Tual Police had also arrested two residents who were suspected of being provocateurs and were found carrying sharp weapons.

The two suspects arrested were J and M. They were arrested on Thursday (2/2/2023). J was arrested in front of the Mayor of Tual's Hall, while M was arrested in the Tanah Putih area, Tual, Maluku.

"These two suspects are considered provocateurs who provoked the masses in the two places. Both were also secured for carrying sharp weapons. Because the number of people is too large and the number of personnel is limited plus we have to disperse the masses so that only a few we have managed to secure," explained Prayudha.

In addition, the Head of Public Relations of the Maluku Police, Kombes Pol. M. Roem Ohoirat, admitted that since Thursday, February 2 afternoon until now, Sunday, the situation and conditions of security and public order (Kamtibmas) in the city of Tual have returned to conducive.

"We need to explain since Thursday afternoon until now the situation is normal," he said.

The spokesman for the Maluku Regional Police said that most of the residents who had fled in the Lanal Tual area had returned to their respective homes.

"Most of the refugees have returned because most of their houses were not damaged. Indeed, there were houses that were damaged and burned down and these are still displaced. While most of them have returned," he added.

Regarding the damage to residents' houses, said Roem, the Maluku Police Chief Inspector General Pol. Lotharia Latif has encouraged the Regional Government (Pemda) to determine the status of Handling Social Conflicts as referred to in Law Number 7 of 2012 concerning Handling Social Conflicts.

"And the status of handling social conflict was determined by the local government yesterday. Once again, I want to convey that the Kamtibmas situation in Tual City is conducive, normal and community activities have been running as usual. We express our gratitude to all the people of Tual, including media colleagues with soothing news," said Roem.