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An official of Puncak Jaya in Papua on Tuesday said he did not believe separatist rebels were involved in the recent killing of a police officer in his district.

“The perpetrators were not from OPM [Free Papua Movement],” district head Lukas Enembe said.

On Monday, Second Brig. Sahrul Mahulau, of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) squad, was found dead in Mulia town. No group has claimed responsibility for the Sahrul’s death.

Adj. Chief Comr. Alex Korwa, head of the Puncak Jaya Police, said four unidentified men attacked Sahrul at about 10:50 a.m. while the victim was patrolling a gas station. Police have ordered an autopsy on Sahrul’s body at a hospital in Jayapura. JG
ARomanian convicted in absentia for defrauding more than 100,000 people in a massive Ponzi scheme is one step closer to being extradited from Indonesia, National Police said on Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Radja Erisman, the National Police chief detective for economic crimes, told the Jakarta Globe that Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar has given police the green light to hand Nicolae Popa to Romanian authorities. “Now we just need to wait for [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s] approval,” Radja said.

Popa, according to the Romanian Times newspaper, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Bucharest court on charges of fraud in 2006. JG
More suspects believed to have been involved in the operation of a factory in Banyumas, Central Java, which manufactures fake herbal medicine, have been arrested, a police official told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Suhardi Alius , the National Police’s special crimes director, said one of the suspects, identified only as W, could be the proprietor of the facility.

“He could be the owner of the factory, which has produced fake herbal medicine sold for millions of rupiah,” Suhardi said.

Suhardi led a raid on the factory and a warehouse this month in Tunjung village, Jatilawang district. The officers found the fake medicine, which was ready to be distributed to Kalimantan and Sumatra. JG
Police on Tuesday said they have arrested five alleged alcohol peddlers in the deaths of 16 people who drank liquor laced with poisonous methanol in Java.

Police Maj. Saiful Anwar said the suspects were arrested for allegedly making a liquid that endangered life but that charges had not been filed yet.

Anwar said the bodies of 16 people who had died would be exhumed in order to establish the causes of death. The deaths occurred between Feb. 6-14.

Methanol can be used as a fuel and is an ingredient in formaldehyde, plastics and paints. Ethanol is the main ingredient in alcoholic drinks and is far less toxic than methanol, but it is heavily taxed in Indonesia. AP
Four men on Tuesday were convicted by the Denpasar District Court for their involvement in the murder of Bali journalist Anak Agung Narendra Gusti Prabangsa last year.

Nyoman Wiradnyana and Komang Gede Wardana were sentenced to 20 years in prison, while two others, Dewa Gede Mulia Antara and Sumbawa Wayan Suecita, are to serve eight years. Two more defendants are still waiting on a verdict. State prosecutors had demanded that the court impose the death sentence on Nyoman. 

JG