T

he National Police'€™s Internal Affairs Division (Propam) suspects that top members of the Pasirian Police in Lumajang, East Java, accepted payments from an illegal sand quarry operator accused of masterminding the murder of an antimining farmer last month.

'€œWe have questioned three personnel: the [Pasirian] Police chief, the [Pasirian] Police detective chief and a member of their Babinkamtibmas [police officers assigned to a village as advisors on security and public order],'€ Propam head Insp. Gen. Budi Winarso told reporters on Friday.

Budi said that Propam investigators suspected that the three men regularly received around Rp 100,000 (US$7.45) to Rp 200,000 per shipment of sand indirectly from the sand quarry operators.

Although the allegedly illegal sand quarry had been in operation since early last year, the three men admitted to only taking money for the past six months.

'€œThere'€™s a portal near [the sand quarry] where the [money] is distributed. They call it money for preman [thug]. [Receiving such money] is prohibited and that'€™s what we are investigating,'€ he said.

The three officers, Budi said, were currently still on duty as Propam had yet to decide whether to impose disciplinary sanctions.

Propam investigators also discovered that the sand quarry operators also gave money to local government officials.

A little over a week ago, 52-year-old Samsul, also known as Salim Kancil, was beaten to death three days after organizing protests against a sand quarry at Watu Pecak Beach in Selok Awar-Awar, Pasirian.

The protestors said that the mining operation damaged the environment and left holes on the beach 5 meters wide in diameter and a meter deep.

The murder sparked nationwide outrage and the demand that the authorities find those responsible for his death.

Fellow villagers also claimed that they had asked the local police for protection before Samsul'€™s death because they had received threats, but their pleas were not acted upon.

Samsul was assaulted alongside fellow protestor 51-year-old Tosan. Tosan is in a critical condition.

In the wake of the attack, the police named 37 people suspects in the case. 24 of them, including village head Hariyono, have been named murder suspects while the rest have been named suspects for operating an illegal quarry.

Meanwhile, National Police Commission (Kompolnas) members Edi Hasibuan said that the police internal affairs division should severely punish the three officers if they discovered enough evidence of foul play.

'€œIf there is enough evidence of an ethical violation then [the policemen should face disciplinary sanctions]. It is all up to the internal supervisors to take steps and impose firm sanctions on police officers found guilty of such violations,'€ he said.

Separately, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said that only three out of the 12 witnesses in the death of Samsul had filed for protection with the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).

'€œThe three witnesses are two relatives of Pak Tosan and one more is a key witness in the murder,'€ director of Walhi'€™s East Java branch, Ony Mahardika, told The Jakarta Post.

Ony said that the majority of locals in Selok Awar-Awar were reluctant to give testimony because they believed that many local thugs connected to Hariyono and his bodyguards continued to run free.