A Tongan national is among three men arrested in Indonesia over the fatal shooting of Melbourne father Zivan “Stipe” Radmanovic in Bali last month.
The 32-year-old victim was killed, and another man, 34-year-old Sanar Ghanim, was seriously injured when gunmen ambushed them at Villa Casa Santisya in Munggu, Badung Regency.
Indonesian authorities confirmed that 26-year-old Paea-I-Middlemore Tupou, a Tongan citizen who had been living in Australia, was arrested after being repatriated from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Two other suspects—27-year-old Australian Darcy Francesco Jenson and 22-year-old Mevlut Coskun—were also detained in connection with the attack.
Bali Police revealed that Jenson was caught attempting to flee to Singapore via Jakarta International Airport before being stopped by immigration authorities.
Police allege he helped plan the attack by supplying tools, including a hammer used to break into the villa, and arranging a getaway car.
Tupou and Coskun are accused of assisting in stealing a Suzuki XL7 used in the escape.
Tupou and Coskun managed to make it out of the country to Cambodia but were identified by Interpol who swooped to arrest them in Phnom Penh and returned them to Indonesia, the Daily Mail reported.
Bali Police revealed how the gang allegedly fled across Indonesia after the shooting, escaping the scene on motorbikes before switching cars twice on an 18-hour, 1200km getaway to Jakarta.
Now detectives have revealed they were first traced through Tupou’s distinctive tattoos which were first picked up on CCTV as he bought cigarettes near the villa where the attack unfolded.
Tupou has a combination of traditional Tongan artwork inked onto his skin as well as the 676-international telephone dialling code for Tonga tattooed in huge numbers down his shin.
Indonesian officials have warned that all three suspects could face the death penalty if convicted under the country’s strict firearms and murder laws.
