Jayapura – The Papua Police have nabbed 13 members of an armed separatist group led by Ayub Waker following the deaths of two Mobile Brigade personnel and a Freeport employee in Utikini village, Mimika regency on January 1.
"It is suspected that they are part of the group responsible for the attack," Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Yotje Mende told reporters in Jayapura, Papua on January 7, 2014.
Yotje said the police arrested a suspect named Mekson Waker in an operation launched only hours upon the discovery of the bodies of the Brimob members and Freeport employee.
"Then on Tuesday, January 6, we apprehended another one with initials GM, who, when we found him, had already suffered a shot wound from his back through his bottom. GM was left behind by his group after a gunfight with the police," he said.
"The next day, on January 7, 2015, we arrested 11 more, who surrendered after another firefight with us. We didn't kill them and they are now investigated at the Tembagapura Police Station," Yotje explained.