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usakambangan Island, the site of one of the nation'€™s maximum security penitentiaries, was closed to the public on Saturday ahead of the scheduled executions of five convicted drug traffickers early Sunday morning.

Dozens of officers were seen guarding Wijaya Pura Pier, which connects the prison island to the mainland.

'€œWe have begun sterilizing the island. Relatives of the inmates are no longer allowed to meet the inmates. Visitors or families of other inmates are also not allowed to enter Nusakambangan until the executions are complete,'€ Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ulung Sampurna Jaya said.

Ulung said that the executioners '€” a firing squad of 48 officers from the National Police'€™s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) special operations unit '€” had arrived on the island on Saturday. Five ambulances and tent poles were also taken to the Nusakambangan compound. The government had previously sent clergymen and doctors to tend to the inmates.

Cilacap Police have deployed a community control team (Dalmas) platoon to guard the pier and its gates. The Wijaya Pura Pier gates, which were partly closed on Friday, were fully closed on Saturday.

Antara reported that five coffins arrived on Saturday afternoon at the pier before they were shipped to Sodong Pier on the other side of the island.

The news agency reported that the executions would likely be held at an area of the island known as Nirbaya, where a prison used to stand during the Dutch colonial era. Several executions have been held at the site before, including those of terrorists Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Muchlas in 2008.

Relatives of the five inmates also arrived at Nusakambangan accompanied by officials from their respective embassies.

Fifty-three-year-old Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 62-year-old Dutchman Ang Kiem Soe, 38-year-old Indonesian Rani Andriani, 38-year-old Nigerian Daniel Enemuo and 48-year-old Malawian Namaona Denis are expected to be executed on the site.

Another death-row inmate, 37-year-old Vietnamese Tran Thi Bich Hanh, is slated for execution in Boyolali, Central Java.

In a letter sent via his wife, Dwi Retno Atik, Denis asked for forgiveness from the Indonesian people and government.

'€œI apologize to the Indonesian people and also to President Joko '€˜Jokowi'€™ Widodo if throughout my years living in Indonesia I have done many mistakes. I am a poor man who has been broken and fallen and failed in fighting for justice in the country,'€ Dwi said as she haltingly read Denis'€™ letter to reporters.

'€œI have spent 14 years serving the sentence and have tried to do good,'€ said Denis in the handwritten letter, which, according to Dwi, was given to her the day before.

Dwi reiterated her dismay over the Indonesian government'€™s decision to go ahead with the executions.

'€œAfter 14 years seeking justice, the law apparently has yet to be objective in sentencing my husband. Our family is devastated by all of this,'€ Dwi said, crying.

Jokowi rejected all the inmates'€™ pleas for clemency on Dec. 30 last year, vowing to show no mercy to drug traffickers.

According to Attorney General HM Prasetyo, the executions would demonstrate the government'€™s determination to crack down on drugs. According to Prasetyo'€™s office, the death-row inmates will face separate firing squads at exactly the same time in the early hours of Sunday.

According to the National Police, the convicts will be taken blindfolded to their places of execution. Then they are to be asked if they would prefer to sit, stand or lie down as they face the firing squad.

Four teams of twelve police officers and one doctor are to wait 10 meters from the convicts, who will be shot at the same time. The police declined to reveal how many times the inmates would be shot or how many bullets would be used.

Once the inmates are executed, doctors are expected to approach the bodies to pronounce them dead.