Jakarta – The Indonesian police have launched a criminal investigation into the death of rights campaigner Munir two months ago after a Dutch hospital reported finding excessive amounts of arsenic in Munir's body.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday officers would begin by questioning people who saw Munir in Jakarta on September 6 before he boarded a Garuda flight to Singapore.

Officers also will question anyone who came into contract with the rights campaigner during his transit in Singapore and during his flight to Amsterdam aboard another Garuda flight.

"We will go ahead with an investigation after receiving the forensic report from the Dutch hospital. We will start by identifying possible witnesses," Da'i said.

He said police would also form a forensics team to cross-check the findings of the Dutch hospital, and if necessary would seek permission from Munir's family to exhume his body for further tests. "But we will not exhume his remains if we already have obtained solid evidence from the existing forensic reports," Da'i said.

Munir died a few hours before his flight landed in Amsterdam. He was seen vomiting several times before his death, Fellow rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis said that in their report, Dutch doctors who performed the autopsy on Munir found 46 fg of arsenic in his urine, blood and stomach, far above safe levels of 3.5 fg/day.

A Dutch medical team performed an autopsy on Munir several days after his death. But according to Rachland Nasidik, a colleague of Munir at the Indonesian Human Rights Watch, the Dutch government ordered a review of the autopsy results before sending a report to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Nov. 9.

National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung said the copy of the autopsy report he received indicated Munir had died of possible arsenic poisoning.

"However, we only received a copy of a translated analysis of the toxicology tests from the Dutch Forensic Institute. We are now working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the original document," Suyitno following a meeting with Munir's wife, Suciwati, and members of several rights groups.

He said the team assigned to conduct the preliminary investigation into the death of Munir would include investigators, toxicologists and forensic experts.

Despite the finding of excessive amounts of arsenic in Munir's body, Suyitno said it was still too early to conclude the rights activist had been intentionally poisoned.

Police plan to speak to crew members of the flights Munir was on, as well as members of Munir's family, including his wife.