he captured leader of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terrorist group Mohammad Basri, alias Bagong, has undergone a psychiatric evaluation following his arrest on Wednesday.
Basri underwent the evaluation on Friday as part of a thorough health check-up at Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Operation Tinombala spokesman Sr.Comr. Hari Suprapto said on Friday.
"The mental examination is important before the investigation process starts at the police's criminal investigation directorate," he told The Jakarta Post.
Hari declined to give any details about the health check but said Basri looked stressed and under pressure.
Basri was second-in-command after the notorious MIT leader Santoso, alias Abu Wardah, who was shot dead in an ambush in July. Basri and his wife Nurmi Usman surrendered to Tinombala personnel in Tangkura village in South Poso Pesisir on Wednesday morning and were transferred to Central Sulawesi Police headquarters in Palu for investigation.
Basri did not divulge what he and his group had done during their periods in the mountainous forests of Poso in a brief interview with The Jakarta Post. He also declined to explain his decision to surrender to the security personnel after the death of Santoso.
In the interview, he only said he was well treated by the police.
"I eat well here. I have to refuse food because there’s too much," Basri told the Post in an interview at the Police headquarters.
His long hair had been cut short and he wore clean clothes. He also showed off his neatly manicured nails in contrast to how they looked after spending years hiding in woods as an MIT militant. (rin)
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