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Soldier, six civilians accused of beating cop
A soldier identified as Yopie Laturake and six men have been taken into custody for allegedly beating a police investigator to death in Ambon, Maluku, on Monday
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soldier identified as Yopie Laturake and six men have been taken into custody for allegedly beating a police investigator to death in Ambon, Maluku, on Monday.
The seven suspects have been accused of attacking Adj. First Insp. Paulus Lekatompessy, crime investigations unit head at the Nusaniwe Police, while the latter was attending his relative's funeral in Losadewe in Ambon around 8:30 p.m. on Monday.
'They got into an argument that eventually led to the suspects assaulting the officer,' Maluku Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Hasanuddin Mudakain said on Tuesday.
Paulus was rushed to the police's Bhayangkara Hospital in Ambon and was later pronounced dead as a result of complications of blunt force trauma to the head.
The Ambon Police are questioning the six civilian suspects while they handed over the investigation into Yopie to the military police of the Pattimura XVI regional military command in Ambon.
Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Andika Perkasa could not confirm the soldier's complicity in the case.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto reiterated that the incident was purely a criminal offense and had nothing to do with the suspected rivalry between the police and military forces.
'The preliminary investigation suggests that the incident was not a brawl between the two security forces,' he said at National Police headquarters.
Agus said that the Ambon Police provided detailed information on the case to the military police in hopes of uncovering the soldier's role in the attack.
'The military police have taken some steps. The suspect is innocent until proven guilty. If it is true [that the soldier assaulted the investigator], we will further coordinate with the military. But we are still looking into the allegation,' he said.
The fatal attack is the second incident involving police and military officers this month.
On Sept. 21, a clash erupted between the Riau Islands Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and soldiers from the Army's Infantry Battalion 134 Tuah Sakti following the police's attempted raid on a suspected illegal fuel-storage facility in Batam.
Four soldiers sustained bullet wounds to the leg and two food stalls were destroyed in the incident.
The National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) set up a joint investigative team to look into the incident and the soldiers' alleged complicity in the fuel-smuggling business.
After a week-long investigation, the team, led by Brig. Gen. Sahfrizal from the National Police's Internal Affairs Division, has yet to reveal the investigation results to the public.
'The preliminary investigation suggests that the incident was not a brawl between the two security forces.'
' JP/Yuliasri Perdani
