TNI-Polri Committed To Hunting Perpetrators Of Massacre Of PTT Employees In Papua, Kombes Firman: Now Our Focus Is On Evacuating The Victims

Cartenz Chief of Peace Operations Police Commissioner Muhammad Firman. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The joint military and police forces are committed to hunting down the armed gang who killed eight employees of PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PTT) in Kampung Jenggeran, West Beoga District, Puncak Regency, Papua on Wednesday 2 March.

The Head of Cartenz Peace Operations, Police Commissioner Muhammad Firman, said that efforts to enforce the law against the perpetrators of these crimes remain the commitment of the TNI-Polri apparatus.

It's just that currently the security forces are focused on immediately evacuating the bodies of eight PTT employees to Timika.

"We remain committed to carrying out law enforcement efforts because what they did was a criminal act. Right now we are focusing on evacuating the victims," said Kombes Firman, quoted by Antara, Sunday, March 6.

The Cartenz Peace Operations Task Force, he said, is now continuing to collect information from members in the field about the perpetrators who killed eight PTT employees.

Although they already know the identity of the armed group, the TNI-Polri apparatus need further development of the various reports and information received.

"We have identified the perpetrators, but we need further development," said Kombes Firman.

Previously, the Director of Investigation and General Crime of the Papua Police, Kombes Faizal Rahmadani, said that the perpetrators of the attack on PTT employees, which were estimated to number around 10 people, were a group led by Terry Aibon alias Aibon Kogeya.

Terry Aibon is known to be a subordinate of one of the KKB leader Nau Waker.

Efforts to evacuate eight PTT employees from their locations were shot at BTS 3 of the East Palapa Ring Project in Kampung Jenggeran, West Beoga District, Puncak Regency to Timika, Mimika Regency on Sunday morning because helicopters could not reach the location due to bad weather conditions.

Eight PTT employees were massacred to death by armed gangs in the camp they were in on Wednesday, March 2, at around 03.00 WIT.

The PTT employees are in a remote area in the mountains of Papua to work on repairing Telkomsel's BTS 3 at CO 53M 756085 9585257.

The eight PTT employees who died were identified as Bona Simanulang, Renal Surea Tagasye, Bili Galdi Balion, Jamaludin, Sharil Nurdiansyah, Eko Septiansyah, Bebei Tabuni and Ibo.