National News - November 16, 2006
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu
One of 29 people wanted by police for suspected involvement in anti-Christian attacks in Poso and Palu, Central Sulawesi, has surrendered, a police spokesman said Wednesday.
Andi Ilalu, alias Andi Bocor, 38, voluntarily surrendered to a local leader Tuesday afternoon. The resident of Mapane, Poso Pesisir district, was flown to the provincial capital Palu for questioning by the police anti-terror detachment.
Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Muhammad Kilat confirmed Andi had surrendered. "He went to see a leader in Mapane, who then took him to the Poso Police office," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said preliminary investigations indicated that Andi was possibly connected to the 2003 murder of Kasrin Ladidin in Landangan, Poso Pesisir.
A second deadline for suspects to surrender ended Tuesday, leaving 28 people still at large.
The second deadline was given after the first one, from Nov. 1 to Nov. 7, failed to achieve results. This may have been because the suspects' relatives refused to assist in the police investigation, fearing their relatives would be tortured.
"We will only hand over our family members if the police promise not to harm them," said Yunus Gafur, the grandfather of two suspects.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bahrul Alam said earlier the 29 suspects, all civilians, were believed to be involved in a range of violent acts.
Meanwhile, 15 other militants, belonging to the Tanah Runtuh and Kayamanya Muslim groups from the town of Gebang Rejo, were recently arrested. They are considered suspects in a series of attacks, beginning in 2001, that targeted Christians in Central Sulawesi, the National Police spokesman said.
The Tanah Runtuh group has been accused of involvement in several murders in Poso since 2001, including the 2005 beheading of three Christian school students and the shooting of a Christian minister in Palu last month, AFP reported.
The second group has been accused of robbery and inciting mob violence by raising religious issues and spreading hatred against the police.
Anton said with the passing of the second deadline, the police were left with two choices; to continue trying to persuade the suspects to turn themselves in voluntarily, or to be more active in searching for them.
If the persuasive method fails again, the police will not be afraid to find and arrest the suspects, but he promised there would no violence or abuse toward them.
"We'll protect their rights. That's why they will be accompanied by their lawyers and the police will be under the supervision of the National Police during any interrogation," Anton said.
He said that based on intelligence reports, the suspects were still in Poso and the police would guard the city's entrances and exits to stop them from leaving. The police would also cooperate with police from neighboring countries to prevent them from escaping abroad.
"But I'm sure they will not be able to get out of Poso, let alone escape to other countries. They're all still in Poso so it's better for them to surrender to the police," Anton reiterated.
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