Planned re-enactment held for murder of Indonesian navy officers

SONGKHLA, THAILAND, April 10 (TNA) - Investigative authorities have taken seven detained Thai fishermen for a planned re-enactment in the killing of two Indonesian navy officers last month. Police of Songkhla Province in the Thai South and representatives from the Office of the Attorney General took the seven fishermen, who were all crew members of Thailand-registered S. Nataya fishing vessel, for the planned re-enactment on Thursday, during which they showed how they physically assaulted and murdered the two Indonesian navy officers on March 9, 2014. The detained Thai fishermen confessed during police's interrogations that they killed the two Indonesian navy officers in the Indonesian waters, by throwing them into the sea. Thai police have been hunting for the captain of the Thai fishing vessel, identified as Opas Jaroenporn, whom the arrested crew members claimed he had ordered them to attack and kill the two Indonesian officers. Jakarta has, meanwhile, expressed its satisfaction with Thai police's operations in handling the case and called for a quick arrest of the Thai trawler's captain, after Assistant National Police Chief Police Lieutenant General Chaktip Chaijinda held a meeting with a team of investigators of the case at the Songkhla Police Station earlier in the day to follow up progress of the case, in which representatives of the Indonesian Consul in Songkhla and Thai southern trawlers also participated. The Indonesian side also expressed its willingness to fully cooperate with the Thai investigative authorities on providing more relevant information or evidence of the case. Thai fishing boats have, ever since, been banned from entering into the Indonesian waters pending the settlement of the case. (TNA)