Police set up more security posts along Timika-Tembagapura roads

Timika, Papua - Papua Police have set up more security posts along Timika-Tembagapura roads within the area of US gold and copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia, the Papua police chief said.Eight new security posts were established in strategic areas, Inspector General Bagus Ekodanto, head of the Papua provincial police, said here on Sunday.

The temporary security posts were made of modified containers and guarded by a joint team of police and military personnel, he said."We get the assistance of two military units from the Military Regional Command (Kodam) XVII Cenderawasih to join the police in protecting PT.Freeport area. We are jointly hunting down the perpetrators who had shot civilians and security personnel over the past week," Ins. Gen. Ekodanto said. Papua police also would continue to probe the case, he said. At least 20 people, including security guards on duty during the shooting incidents, had been grilled by the police.

The Papua provincial police have intensified security precautions for foreigners in Timika, especially in the US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) area, Timika had more foreigners than in other areas in Papua and West Papua provinces, Inspector General Ekodanto said. Since Saturday (July 11), three persons, including one worker of US gold and copper mining company PT Freeport, had been killed and seven others injured. Drew Nicholas Grant, an Australian national who worked for PT Freeport, was shot dead by unknown people at Mile-53 on Saturday (July 11). On Sunday (July 12), there were two armed attacks respectively at Mile 51 and Mile 2, which killed Markus Rante Allo, a security guard of PT Freeport. On Monday (July 13), Brigadier I Marson, a Papua police officer, was found dead at mile 52 road connecting Timika and Tembagapura.
Because of that, PT Freeport has forbidden its employees to travel between Tembagapura and Timika in Papua as of Wednesday (July 15) for security reasons. PT Freeport spokesman, Mindo Pangaribuan, told ANTARA company employees whose weekly day-off fell on Wednesday and were now resting in Timika had been requested for security reasons to stay in Timika and not to go to Tembagapura.Those working in Tembagapura where the company`s gold and copper mines are located were not allowed to go to Timika for their own safety, he said.

The restriction was imposed following shooting incidents by unknown armed groups, including the latest incident at Mile 49 on Tuesday. To optimize the mining company`s operations, employees at Tembagapura had been put on extra working schedules in line with the company`s policy. Meanwhile, House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Agung Laksono has urged the police to immediately deal with the shooting incidents which killed a PT Freeport employee and a policeman in Papua in order to reveal the motive of the murders.He also urged the police to investigate the motive of the gunmen , whether it was purely criminal or political.

Source : July 19, 2009| National |Antara