Security Forces Arrest a Member of Armed Group in Papua

Liputan6.com, Jayapura - A member of a criminal armed group (KKB) in Papua has been arrested by joint collaboration of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and Police of Republic Indonesia (Polri). The man named Yamison Murib was arrested on Wednesday (5/4) in Puncak Regency, Central Papua Province.

According to the police, he is a member of criminal armed forced led by Numbuk Telenggen, which was involved in attacking civilians.

The head of Peace Operation Cartenz, Chief Commissioner Faizal Rahmadani, said Murib was allegedly involved in the violent crimes.

"Yamison Murib is an underling of the leader of KKB Puncak, Numbuk Telenggen and Pilanus Walker, who were involved in several actions that caused casualties whether civilians or members of TNI-Polri," said Faizal in Jayapura city, Friday (7/4/2023).

One of the crimes which involved Yamison and Numbuk involved the shooting of an ojek rider at Omukia District in 2021. Ojek is a public transportation service using motorcycles.

Other crimes include the burning of BTS tower, the burning of a helicopter owned by a private company at Aminggaru Ilaga Airport, and a shooting to a security officer in Olenki village. All of them happened in 2021.

In Jakarta, the Commander of TNI Admiral Yudo Margono spoke about the hostage of Captain Philip Mark Mehrtens of Susi Air. The pilot has been a hostage since February 2023.

Admiral Yudo is certain that the military will be able to negotiate his freedom without force.

"Insyaallah, optimistic," said Yudo on Wednesday.

Yudo believes that persuasion will be the best course, because the criminal armed group in Papua will not hesitate to kill the pilot if there were a militaristic approach, so that TNI would be blamed.

As a result, Yudo is prioritizing persuasion to save the pilot of Susi Air.

"If I use military force, it is also possible. Attacking militarily. I have the tools, the professional soldiers for that. But who will be the victims? Certainly the civilians," said Yudo.

Susi Air is owned by former Ministry for Sea and Fisheries, Susi Pudjiastuti.

Yudo, however, does not have the deadline to save the pilot.

"There is no target for how many days. Our target is they (the pilot) can be freed alive and no affected civilians to become the victims," Yudo asserted.