Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – The National Police have appointed Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, 50, the National Police chief planning assistant, to lead the Jakarta Police. He will replace Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono, who is poised to serve as National Police chief operation assistant.

Tito, the former Papua Police chief, is widely known as counterterrorism specialist with credentials that include the killing of Azahari Husin and Noordin Muhammad Top, both Malaysian nationals who were behind the 2002 Bali bombings that claimed the lives of 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Earning his master's degree from Massey University in New Zealand and postgraduate degree from the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, Tito's credentials also include cracking down on terror cells that once ignited bloody sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, in the early 2000s.

After serving as chief of the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit between 2010 and 2011, Tito was promoted to serve as operations deputy for the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) between 2011 and 2012.

Aside from terrorism, Tito also gained prominence for his role in the arrest of then fugitive Tommy Soeharto, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, in 2001. Tommy was arrested by the authorities for the killing of Supreme Court justice Safiudin Kartasasmita. (ren)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/05/counterterrorism-czar-tito-lead-jakarta-police.html