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Police accuse own active officers of Novel Baswedan attack
It also demanded the police reveal "the general" who masterminded the attack on Novel, since the KPK investigator had been involved in several high-profile cases at the time
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Targeted: Corruption Eradication Commission senior investigator Novel Baswedan talks to journalists in Singapore. Novel underwent treatment in Singapore on his left eye, which was injured in an acid attack in 2017. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
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mid pressure over their increasing influence on the country's antigraft commission, the National Police announced on Friday that two of their officers had been named suspects in the attack on the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) top investigator, Novel Baswedan.
The two alleged perpetrators were arrested on Thursday evening, according to the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) chief, Insp. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
"We cooperated with the police’s Mobile Brigade [Brimob] to arrest the suspects," he said in a press conference at the Jakarta Police headquarters.
The suspects have been identified only as RM and RB. Both are active members of the National Police. The two were arrested in Cimanggis, Depok, West Java, and are currently under investigation. The police have yet to reveal further details about the suspects or their alleged motive for attacking Novel.
The arrests come roughly two-and-a-half years after the attack on April 11, 2017, when two men threw acid into Novel’s face as he was walking home from morning prayers at Al Ihsan Mosque in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.
Novel’s left eye was severely injured as a result of the attack, requiring him to undergo surgery in Singapore.
For years, prolonged investigations — carried out by the police and a fact-finding team formed by former National Police chief Gen. (ret) Tito Karnavian, who is now home minister — were unable to identify the attackers.
