Indonesians Arrested in Turkey are not Missing Tourists: Police

Jakarta (Antara) - Indonesian Deputy Police Chief Commissioner General Badrodin Haiti confirmed that the sixteen Indonesians arrested in Turkey are not those who were recently reported missing after they separated from a tour group. \"Sixteen Indonesian nationals who were caught and detained on the Turkish border are not those who had gone missing as their identities did not match,\" Badrodin revealed here on Friday. The National Police (Polri) will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to determine the identities of the 16 residents who have been reportedly arrested in Turkey. Polri has also prepared its personnel to be sent to Turkey to directly reveal the arrested citizens\' identities. \"We have coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) to send personnel to Turkey,\" he remarked. The Turkish authorities have detained some 16 Indonesian citizens who were attempting to cross into Syria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed here on March 13, 2015. It is suspected that the sixteen people were arrested on the Turkey-Syria border while they were trying to cross over into Syria to join ISIS. According to Turkey\'s Cihan News Agency, Spokesperson of Turkey\'s Foreign Affairs Ministry Tanju Bilgic has confirmed that the location where the sixteen Indonesians were caught has been a route used frequently by ISIS sympathizers. Previously, on March 4, sixteen Indonesian nationals with tourist visas reportedly went missing from a tour group in Turkey, raising doubts whether they were abducted or they deliberately separated from the tour group. \"The 16 people told the group that they would not be staying with them during the tour but would visit the locations on their own and later join the group in a certain city before returning to Indonesia,\" Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry\'s spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir recently stated.(*)