Wilpret Siagian, Jayapura – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) Chairperson Agus Kossay was arrested by a joint team from the Papua regional police on Tuesday September 17. Kossay has been declared a suspect for allegedly being the mastermind behind the riots in Jayapura on August 29.

The Papua regional police had earlier included Kossay in a wanted persons list. “He was arrested in the Hawaii area, Sentani, on Tuesday September 17 at around 6 pm by a joint team”, said Papua regional police chief Inspector General Rudolf A. Rodja at the Papua regional police headquarters on Wednesday September 18.

According to Rodja, Kossay was arrested as he was passing through Jl Raya Sentani-Abepura in Jayapura on a motorcycle driven by a colleague, Dony Itlay. “They were also riding a stolen motorcycle”, said Rodja.

The joint team also arrested Itlay who is a KNPB member and was the person driving the motorcycle Kossay was on. “Dony Itlay is also a KNPB member. He was involved in the actions which took place in Jayapura”, said Rodja.

According to Rodja, the police’s investigations into the Jayapura riots will continue despite Kossay’s arrest. “We will continue to look for and develop the investigation into perpetrators of the riots in Papua and who must be held responsible for causing them, no matter who they are”, he said.

Indonesian police chief General Tito Karnavian earlier said that there were a number of organisations that were behind the riots in Papua and West Papua provinces. Two of them are the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and the KNPB.

“The ULMWP and KNPB are responsible for the incidents. They were the ones that produced the hoaxes”, said Karnavian when he visited Jayapura recently. (aan/aan)

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Ketua KNPB Ditangkap Terkait Kerusuhan di Jayapura”.]

Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4710676/ketua-knpb-ditangkap-terkait-kerusuhan-di-jayapura