Timika – The chief of police in Papua has announced that he will be setting up a special team to investigate recent acts of terror in the vicinity of the Freeport copper-and-gold mine which is located in the district of Mimika.

Inspector-General Tito Karnavian said that the special team will be charged with mapping the incidents and investigating each one so ensure that they are properly solved.

"The team will be instructed to handle each case seriously. What happens at present that when an incident occurs, everyone talks about it but then is disappears."

The chief of police spent two days in the area with a number of officers and inspected the open pit mining (Grasberg) as well as the underground mines.

He stressed the need for the incidents to be handled seriously. There have been a number of shootings in the Freeport area since 2009, but in most cases, the perpetrators have not been found.

During the past three years, he said, there have been "hundreds" of shooting incidents leading to the death of twenty people which has included members of the police force, members of the company's internal security force as well as local people who are involved in traditional mining.

As regards the general situation in Papua, the chief of police said that everything is quiet and under control. He went on to say that there have been a number of terror incidents in Wamena which have been solved as well as cases of the discovery of explosive material in Timika.

Six people who are thought to be involved in explosive material are currently in the custody of the police and are being interrogated. He said that the cases are being handled in accordance with legal procedures. "Anyone who is deemed to be guilty will be processed according to the law."

[Translated by TAPOL]