TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Several unknown people reportedly attacked the Papuan dormitory in Surabaya on the early dawn of Monday, September 9. Witnesses claimed that two people riding a single motorcycle threw four bags into the dormitory which was filled with snakes.

The Papuan community’s spokesman in the dormitory, Alince Takege, said that the intimidation happened while most of the students were asleep. He also said one of the bags was filled with a 15-20 kilogram python snake.

“Someone screamed snake, snake, and then was followed by a commotion. I, myself, immediately woke up,” said Alince to Tempo today.

Furthermore, Alince said the students captured the harmless snakes which eventually escaped the bag but some managed to escape to a nearby drainage system.

“We were scared since the snakes were quick. We don’t know whether [the escaped snakes] are poisonous or not, the entire students from the dorm are still hunting the snakes down,” he said.

Prior to the intimidation, one of the students saw a number of unknown people monitoring the Papuan dormitory from a distance. “One of them even watched us with binoculars,” said one of the dorm’s residents.

The East Java Police Department’s Spokesman, Grand Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera said that he has yet to received an official report regarding the incident as he is still in Jakarta for the past month.

KUKUH S. WIBOWO