TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) senior investigator, Novel Baswedan, claims that the attack against him was carefully planned and systematically executed.

As an active investigator and former detective, Novel knew that he was being watched prior to the attack. “According to several sources, the person spying on me is from the police force,” said Novel Baswedan in his interview in June.

He also claims that he was being followed by unknown people. Not long after the acid attack against him took place, someone tried to access his mobile phone illegally. One week before the attack took place, unusual notifications showed up on his mobile phone.

Read: Novel Baswedan to Reveal the Involvement of a Police General

Novel’s coworkers in KPK who were literate in the field of technology detected similar unusual anomalies suggesting that another device was trying to crack Novel’s mobile phone. “I knew since then that someone was trying to play games with me,” said Novel Baswedan. He claims that it isn’t just an individual and that they have the ability to wire-tap and has access to authority.

The former Jakarta Metro Police Chief, General Inspector Mochamad Iriawan, knew for some time that the attacker had watched Novel prior to the attack. “The suspects were well prepared in visualizing the situation,” he said on April 26.

We gathered several witness testimonies that suggested the attack involved several people and that Novel was being watched. Novel’s neighbors testified that he had already been watched for a long period of time, including his daily morning prayers at the Mosque nearby.

Several witnesses said that one day before the attack they saw several unknown people seemingly keeping an eye on Novel, one of them even went up to the Mosque wudu tap that is usually used by Novel Baswedan.

TEMPO TEAM