A Papua Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) member has been shot dead after a gunfight broke out during a routine morning patrol on Tuesday.
It came as the gunmen who killed two port workers employed by PT Kuala Pelabuhan Indonesia, which is a contractor to PT Freeport Indonesia (PT FI), were yet to be arrested by authorities.
“The Brimob member, First Brig. Ronald Supamena, was conducting routine patrol this morning and was involved in a gunfight. He was shot and killed,” Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bigman L Tobing said
in Jayapura.
He said that the Brimob member was shot dead by an armed group believed to have carried out other shootings in the region. “We are aware that the group has often carried out shootings, but we have yet to catch them due to recent conditions, especially with the current bad weather, when they can see us but we cannot see them,” Bigman said.
The gunfight broke out at around 9 a.m. at Mile 37 in Tanggul Timur, and was started by a group firing at a Brimob vehicle. The car had been traveling to the Nayaro village.
The shot Brimob member was evacuated to a medical clinic at Mile 38, where he later died.
PT FI spokesman Ramdani Sirait said that access to Tanggul Timur would be temporarily closed during the investigation into the shooting.
“We received a report of a shooting in Tanggul Timur within PT FI’s operation area in the Mimika regency, Papua, which led to the death of a police officer. The police have arrived at the scene to investigate,” Ramdani told The Jakarta Post in a text message. He added that company management has extended their deep condolences to the dead man’s family.
Last month, three people were shot dead within PT FI’s operation area. On Jan. 9, two PT KPI employees, Thomas Bagensa and Nasyum Simapioref, were killed and their corpses burned. The investigation into their deaths has not been completed. “Hopefully the case will be uncovered in the near future,” Bigman said.
The chairman of the Papua Legislative Council’s Commission A, Ruben Magai, said that the unsolved murders in the PT FI operation area and in Puncak Jaya reflected police incompetence.
“The role of the police is never seen in efforts to solve shooting cases, despite the fact that the state has issued laws, provided expenses and equipment to support their tasks. Why are they not able to solve the cases? As a result, the people don’t feel that they are protected by the state,” Magai said.