JAKARTA (PINA) — A foreign helicopter had been sighted flying into the Merauke district of Indonesian-ruled West Papua, the Antara news agency reported.
The report quoted sources in the provincial capital of Jayapura as saying that the helicopter was seen flying low early morning and evening between April 6 and 8.
The report raised intense interest because Indonesian security forces have been battling pro-independence guerrillas in the resource-rich former Dutch colony.
Merauke district head Jhon Gluba Gebse was quoted by Antara as saying that he had already reported the case to the National Intelligence Agency in Jakarta. Antara said the helicopter was reported to have entered from the border region with Papua New Guinea.
It passed northward into the Indonesian region and flew around for sometime before returning to the PNG border region, Antara quoted the report as saying.
Gebse said similar incidents had happened around May to July last year but at the time it was a small aircraft that had been sighted.
The chief of Indonesia’s Jayapura airbase Colonel Bambang Samudro said he had so far not received any report about foreign espionage activity.
