Bontang Police deploys personnel to guard foreign firms

Despite assurance from religious leaders here that there would be no sweeping against Americans and Britons, the Bontang mayoralty Police deployed on Thursday personnel to protect the foreign staffs of overseas firms operating in the area, according to Kaltim Post daily.

Bontang Police Chief Arief Wicaksono said that the companies being tightly guarded by the police included oil and gas firms Vico Indonesia and Total FinaElf, natural gas firm PT Badak NGL, and coal mining giant PT Kaltim Prima Coal.

?Despite guarantee from religious leaders here, the Bontang Police and the Botang Military unit will still take precautionary measures ? That?s why we have stationed our personnel in companies with foreign staffs particularly U.S. citizens,? Arief said.

Several radical groups in the country have plans to hunt down Americans and Britons following the U.S.-led air strikes against Afghanistan.(*)