Two senior officers promoted for antiterror ‘victories’

Two high-ranking police officers have been promoted for their roles in antiterror operations.

North Sumatra Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Syafruddin was sworn in last Friday as South Kalimantan Police chief in Jakarta on Friday, replacing Brig. Gen. Untung S. Rajab.

Police Chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno is to be promoted to commissioner general when he takes up his new post at the National Police Headquarters soon.

He is very likely to head the police’s Security Maintenance Agency. He is to be sworn in after Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo is installed as the new Indonesian Police Chief, replacing Bambang Hendarso Danuri.

Rumors abounded that Oegroseno might be installed as deputy chief of the Indonesian Police, a post currently occupied by Comr. Gen. Jusuf Manggabarani.

Oegroseno said he did not know about the rumors, but added he was ready to move to a new position.

“I never say ‘No’ to an assignment,” he told The Jakarta Post
recently.

Commenting on Syafruddin’s new position, Oegroseno said the job had been available for Syafruddin to fill for quite sometime.

“He has made numerous achievements and it is not just recently that he has been tackling armed groups,” said Oegroseno, who recently assigned Syafruddin to head of the police group tasked with apprehending an armed group of suspected terrorists at large in North Sumatra.

The head of the North Sumatra Police’s public relations division, Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar, said Syafruddin’s antiterror unit was now under the control of the police’s operations bureau.

Oegroseno said his office was still chasing an armed group believed to be hiding in Dolok Masihul district, Serdang Bedagai regency. The group has been involved in several gun battles with the police.

The police have killed 10 and detained 31 members of the armed group since a massive police manhunt was initiated after the group robbed a bank in Medan in August. The same group killed several police officers in an ambush in North Sumatra.