Assets Of PT IMIP Morowali Damaged In The Aftermath Of Youth Issues Died In Dianiya, Police Name 3 Suspects

Illustration of the riots. (Unsplash-Hasan Almasi)

JAKARTA - The police have named three suspects in the case of the destruction and looting of assets of PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Morowali, Central Sulawesi (Central Java).

Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Morowali Police, AKP Erick Wijaya Siagian, said that his party received two police reports after the riots at the PT IMIP Poltek Post, Labota Village, Bahodopi District on August 8.

"The first report is related to theft with weight and a second report on vandalism," he said in his statement in Palu, Tuesday, was confiscated by Antara.

According to him, the incident was triggered by information about the abuse of a young man with the initials MR (19) who was reported to have died in Labota Village.

He said the police arrested two people, IM and R, while carrying out the damage. The results of the examination, only IM admitted to destroying the security post, while both of them said that two of their colleagues, F and NIU, also carried out looting.

Then, he said, the Morowali Police, assisted by the Central Sulawesi Regional Police, secured F (20) and NIU (25). Both admitted to taking a number of equipment or assets belonging to PT IMIP, namely one automatic binoculars level, two concrete drills, two impact drills, and one electric saw.

He said F and NIU had been named suspects and investigators detained at the Morowali Police detention center for the next 20 days. Meanwhile, IM has also been named a suspect in the vandalism case.

"F and NIU are being held at the Morowali Police detention center for the next 20 days as suspects in looting, while IM is a suspect in vandalism," said Erick.

He emphasized that the police will continue to develop this case and take firm action against anyone involved.

"We urge the perpetrators of looting to surrender and return the goods so that they can lighten the sentence," he said.

Earlier on Friday, August 8, an unknown number of people carrying various sharp weapons, iron sticks and bows, carried out anarchic actions and looted PT IMIP's assets.

They set fire to several units of vehicles, and looted a number of assets of PT IMIP, such as coils of copper cables in the form of a large robin or roll.

From amateur videos spread across social media, a group of people was also seen throwing police officers with stones. Not only the police, a number of employees also did not escape the anarchist action.

In a state of urgency, the police then fired warning shots to dispel the crowd. However, because the looters continued to throw stones and bows, the police finally fired rubber bullets at the group of people to disperse the crowd.