South Sulawesi Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Salempang said the company, comprised of a bomb squad and riot police, was tasked with providing backup to Papua Police in maintaining security and order in the region.
He said he had no idea whether the situation in Papua was worsening so that additional police offi-cers were needed, arguing that he was just executing an order from the Indonesian Police Headquarters that he received Thursday night.
Mathius added he did not know for how long the company would be assigned to Papua, but declared that it was always ready to be assigned anywhere at any time.
The company, which is led by Adj. Comr. Amiruddin, departed for Papua on Friday night using an aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force. - JP