T

he Cilacap Immigration Office in Central Java has arrested two foreign journalists for allegedly misusing their tourist visas and failing to produce permits to cover the executions of death-row inmates on Nusakambangan Island.

'€œThe two foreign nationals are undergoing questioning at the Cilacap Immigration Office,'€ Cilacap Immigration Office communication and information officer Adithia Perdana said in Cilacap on Monday.

He added that both of the foreigners were arrested by immigration officers on Jan. 17 at around 2:30 p.m. as they were interviewing a relative of a death-row convict on Nusakambangan .

According to Adithia, the journalists have been identified as Gomes Marcio, from Brazil, and Geovanne Percy Saima Guerrero, from Peru. Both of them work for Globo TV Brazil.

He said they did not have permits from the Foreign Ministry to carry out journalistic activities in Indonesia.

'€œBoth of the foreign journalists were only issued tourist visas,'€ said Adithia.

Asked whether the foreign journalists would be deported, Adithia said they were still being questioned and would be dealt with accordingly.

In addition to them, added Adithia, four Italian and Dutch nationals who were carrying out journalistic activities at the Wijayapura Pier, the entrance to the prison island in Cilacap, were questioned.

After questioning, added Adithia, the four foreign nationals, equipped with legal permits to carry out news coverage, were allowed to resume their activities.

Six drug-convicts faced the firing squad on Sunday. Five of them, including Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, were executed on Nusakambangan Island.

Moreira, 53, was arrested in 2003 after police at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, found 13.4 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his hang glider.

He was reported to be the first Brazilian national executed abroad.

In another development, the Cilacap Police are on alert to maintain security at a number of facilities in the regency, especially on Nusakambangan Island, following the possibility that the next round of executions will be carried out next month.

Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ulung Sampurna said he had received messages that the next round of executions would be conducted in February.

'€œWe are still securing Nusakambangan and the surrounding areas. We have not withdrawn personnel as a preemptive measure,'€ Ulung told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

'€œIn the next round, around five death row convicts will face the firing squad,'€ said Ulung.

The police deployed additional personnel ahead of Sunday'€™s executions. Nusakambangan remains under tight security, with the authorities refusing to take any risks given a number of facilities in Cilacap that are considered as important, including state oil and gas firm Pertamina, steam power plants and industrial zones.

Ulung said the firing squad for the next round of executions had been prepared.