This mining company's operations still run normallyTimika, Papua (ANTARA) - The Indonesian military and police personnel in Mimika District, Papua Province, detected potential security threats from armed Papuan criminals in the Jila area, Mimika Police Chief Adjunct Sen. Coms. I Gusti Gede Era Adhinata stated.
"We have identified other armed Papuan groups that had attempted to infiltrate the Tembagapura Sub-district area through the Jila Sub-district," Adhinata told journalists in Timika, the capital of Mimika District, on Wednesday.
Adhinata highlighted the significance of airborne support for the joint military and police groups to crush armed criminals, adding that the security personnel were aware of the whereabouts of the armed Papuan groups.
The Mimika police had sought the deployment of additional personnel to help prevent the notorious armed Papuan criminals from infiltrating into the Tembagapura sub-district area to join their colleagues in villages, such as Banti and Opitawak, he stated.
On March 9, 2020, an armed Papuan group in Jila Sub-district had launched an attack on a security checkpoint there that claimed the life of a soldier.
Adhinata pointed out that several shootings by armed Papuan criminals broke out outside the areas of the mining sites of PT Freeport Indonesia in Tembagapura Sub-district though failing to disrupt the operations of this gold and copper mining firm.
"This mining company's operations still run normally," he noted.
The security situation in Papua remains vulnerable to acts of deadly violence by notorious Papuan separatists.
The rebels were engaged in repeated exchanges of fire with the Indonesian military and police personnel. The rebels also launched deadly attacks on civilians over the past years and killed several of them.
The Papua Police recorded that from early January to December 28, 2019, a total of 23 shooting and criminal cases involving the armed Papuan groups had claimed the lives of 10 members of the Indonesian police and military as well as 10 civilians.
The armed Papuan criminals committed such criminal acts in the administrative areas of the districts of Puncak Jaya, Jayawijaya, Mimika, and Paniai in 2019, Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw remarked on December 28, 2019.
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Translator: Evarianus S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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