Indonesian Police to Maximize All Effort to Free 4 Hostages in Papua

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Police personnel of Operation Peace Cartenz in Papua Province continue to make the utmost efforts to free four civilians being held captive by several armed Papuan separatist terrorists, according to the National Police (Polri).

"The Operation Peace Cartenz Task Force has been handling the case," the National Police Chief Operating Assistant Inspector General Agung Setya Imam Effendi confirmed to ANTARA on Saturday.

The task force personnel have taken necessary measures in response to the reported abduction of the four civilians, including conducting a "field verification", Effendi said.

Meanwhile, Papua Police Spokesperson Senior Commissioner Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo stated earlier in a statement that the four civilians remained held captive by the armed separatist terrorists.

The victims are reportedly employed by PT Inti Bangun Sejahtera (PT IBS) to work on a base transceiver station (BTS), owned by Telkomsel, a subsidiary of state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom Indonesia.

The workers who were taken hostage are identified as Asmar, who suffered an injury on his right shoulder; Peas Kulka; Senus Lepitalem; and Fery, who got wounded on his left shoulder, Prabowo said.

He explained that the hostage situation occurred when a plane carrying six people -- five workers of PT IBS and Head of the Information and Communication-Pegunungan Bintang District Office Alverus Sanuari -- landed in Okbab Sub-district in Pegunungan Bintang District, Papua, on Friday.

The Elang Air flight departed from Oksibil, the capital of Pegunungan Bintang District, for Okbab Sub-district at 08:30 a.m. local time.

Shortly after their arrival in Okbab Sub-district, they were intercepted by five Papuan men wielding sharp weapons and claiming to belong to a Papuan separatist terrorist group. They then captured the workers.

Prabowo said they assaulted three of the workers with their weapons. As a result, three workers were injured. One of them, named Benyamin Sembiring, was freed along with Alverus Sanuari and allowed to return to Oksibil.

"They (Sembiring and Sanuari) arrived in Oksibil Sub-district at 11:00 a.m. local time, and were admitted to the Oskibil Hospital to receive medical treatment," he said.

The four other workers, however, remain held captive by the hostage takers. "Two of them are injured," he said, adding that the kidnappers demand a Rp500-million (around US$33,683) ransom for their release.

"Authorities are giving serious attention to this ransom demand and taking necessary measures for the immediate release of the hostages," he said.

ANTARA

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