The Jakarta Post, 10/8/2002 10:07:48 PM
Four FBI agents visit Papua to discuss Freeport ambush, police
chief says
JAYAPURA, Papua (JP): Four members of the United States's Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) have visited Papua to ask about an Indonesian police probe into the
ambush killing of two Americans and an Indonesian in August, the police chief
assigned to Papua, I Made Mangku Pastika said here on Tuesday.
To AFP news agency, Pastika disclosed that the FBI agents left Papua on Sunday
after a visit of three or four days to seek information about the August ambush by as
yet unidentified gunmen on a mountain road leading to the giant US-owned Freeport
copper and gold mine, one of the world's largest.
The three dead were all employees of an international school operated by Freeport.
Another 12 Freeport employees, mostly Americans, were also wounded, including a
six-year-old American girl.
Pastika, who met the FBI agents for three or four hours, said they were not
investigating. "They wanted to get information from us, what we have done, and
discuss with us, maybe offer ideas about things not yet done," he said. But he said
the agents concluded Pastika's police were conducting the investigation orrectly.
Pastika said that a senior detective from Indonesian police headquarters in Jakarta
escorted the FBI agents. But, he did not know which FBI office the agents came from.
The visit marks the second time the FBI has visited Papua to monitor the case.
In early September, one agent described as a "legal officer" accompanied two officials
from the US embassy in Jakarta on a visit to the ambush scene and meetings with
Papuan police.
At that time, an embassy spokesman said the delegation was simply rying to find out
more about what had happened, and said the officials were not conducting an
investigation.
Pastika's police investigation continues.
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