{"id":986707,"date":"2023-02-08T23:34:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T23:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=84284"},"modified":"2023-02-08T23:34:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T23:34:14","slug":"indonesian-security-forces-have-no-idea-where-nz-pilot-hostage-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/02\/08\/indonesian-security-forces-have-no-idea-where-nz-pilot-hostage-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesian security forces \u2018have no idea\u2019 where NZ pilot hostage is"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/jubi.id\/\">Jubi News<\/a> in Jayapura<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Indonesian security forces do not know the whereabouts of the New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) on Tuesday,<\/p>\n<p>Captain Philip Mehrtens, a pilot for Susi Air, was taken hostage following the burning of his aircraft in Paro district, Nduga regency, in a rugged part of Indonesian-ruled Papua province on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>One of the obstacles in finding Mehrtens is the lack of telecommunications facilities in Paro and there is no Indonesian military post in the area, says a police spokesperson.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/08\/indonesian-rights-researcher-slams-kidnapping-efforts-to-free-nz-pilot\/\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Indonesian rights researcher slams kidnapping \u2013 efforts to free NZ pilot<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/08\/nz-papua-hostage-pilots-warned-to-take-precautions-in-danger-zone\/\">NZ Papua hostage: Pilots warned to take precautions in \u2018danger\u2019 zone<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/07\/papuan-rebels-seize-nz-pilot-hostage-set-local-plane-on-fire-say-reports\/\">Papuan rebels seize NZ pilot hostage, set local plane on fire, say reports<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/2\/7\/rebels-claim-new-zealand-pilot-taken-hostage-in-indonesias-papua\">Rebels claim New Zealand pilot taken hostage in Indonesia\u2019s Papua<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/world\/483830\/new-zealand-pilot-taken-hostage-in-indonesia-reports\">Other West Papuan conflict reports<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Papua Police spokesperson Senior Commander Benny Prabowo said security forces continued to track the whereabouts of the pilot.<\/p>\n<p>According to Commander Prabowo, the Nduga police were preparing to go to Paro district.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil now, the investigation is still being carried out by the police assisted by the Cartenz Peace Task Force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Tuesday, a Susi Air aircraft was burned after landing in Paro district.<\/p>\n<p>The local leader of the TPNPB Ndugama-Derakma, Egianus Kogeya, said the plane was burned by his men. Kogeya also stated that his group had captured and held Captain Mehrtens hostage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preceded by threats<br \/>\n<\/strong>Benny said that before the burning of the plane, rumours had been circulating since Saturday that the TPNPB had threatened 15 construction workers who were building a health center in Paro district.<\/p>\n<p>Commander Prabowo said the Nduga police had received a report from the Nduga regent who said the construction workers were questioned by TPNPB because they did not have complete identities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got information that 15 people had left Paro district and headed to Mapenduma. But their whereabouts are still being investigated by the Cartenz Peace Task Force,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Commander Prabowo hoped that the public would entrust the handling of the hostage case to the police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTelecommunication access there is still very limited, so there is very little information. I hope all parties will be patient,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The TPNPB rebels are fighting for independence in West Papua and say they will not release the pilot until their demands are met.<\/p>\n<p><em>Republished from Jubi with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_84290\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-84290\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img class=\"wp-image-84290 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Susi-Air-plane-TJ-680wide.png\" alt=\"The hijacked Susi Air aircraft \" width=\"680\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Susi-Air-plane-TJ-680wide.png 680w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Susi-Air-plane-TJ-680wide-300x216.png 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Susi-Air-plane-TJ-680wide-583x420.png 583w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-84290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The hijacked Susi Air aircraft . . . reportedly shortly before the Papuan rebels set fire to it. Image: Papuan media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/09\/indonesian-security-forces-have-no-idea-where-nz-pilot-hostage-is\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jubi News in Jayapura Indonesian security forces do not know the whereabouts of the New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) on Tuesday, Captain Philip Mehrtens, a pilot for Susi Air, was taken hostage following the burning of his aircraft in Paro district, Nduga regency, in a rugged part<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[362,5,53887,7,207,1193,255,57162,12,13,14,9451,19,20,9452,299],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=986707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":986984,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986707\/revisions\/986984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=986707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=986707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=986707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}