Spread The Hoax Of Houses Of Worship Fired When Inter-citizens Clashes In Tual Maluku, 3 Of These Perpetrators Are Threatened With 10 Years In Prison

Head of Public Relations of the Maluku Police, Grand Commissioner Police M. Roem Ohoirat. (ANTARA)

TUAL - Three suspects who spread false information or hoaxes on the burning of houses of worship during clashes between residents in Tual City, Maluku, on January 31, 2023, were threatened with 10 years in prison. "They are subject to Law number 19 of 2016 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions with a penalty of 10 years," said Head of Public Relations of the Maluku Police, Kombes M. Roem Ohoirat in Ambon, Antara, Monday, February 6. Roem revealed that the three suspects in the crime of spreading fake news had the initials MTR, ABS and ZBN. They have now been detained at the Maluku Police Headquarters in Ambon. "They were brought yesterday for examination at the General Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Maluku Police and detained at the Maluku Police detention center," he said. According to Roem, currently the situation in Tual City after clashes between residents has returned to normal. Community activities have resumed as usual. Maluku Police Chief Inspector General Lotharia Latif has also encouraged local governments to establish the status of handling social conflicts as referred to in Law Number 7 of 2012 concerning Handling Social Conflicts. "The status of handling social conflicts has been determined by the local government yesterday. Once again, I want to convey that the security and security 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. Previously, three suspects were arrested for spreading false information or hoaxes about the burning of houses of worship in Tual. The first suspect with the initials ZBN was arrested on Friday (3/2). From the results of the examination, ZBN admitted that he only forwarded the hoax message. After ZBN, the police again arrested two suspected perpetrators of spreading hoaxes with the initials MTR and ABS. Based on the results of the examination, MTR is the person who recorded and spread the false information through the WhatsApp conversation group. Furthermore, the hoax message was also distributed by ABS.