The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have finished their investigations into eight men accused of shooting dead an Indonesian and two American teachers in Papua province and have handed their files to prosecutors for examination.

"The evidence is divided into three files," National Police spokesmen Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said Friday.

He said the police's file on Antonius Wamang, the alleged mastermind of the attack, was separated from the other suspects.

Police are charging Wamang with premeditated murder, which carries the maximum death penalty.

The seven other suspects, three in one file and four in another, could each face 15 years' jail if found guilty of aiding and abetting the murder.

Physical evidence handed to prosecutors includes 97 5.56 caliber shell casings, eight 7.62 caliber shell casings, one M-16 magazine, two Land Cruisers and three trailer trucks.

During the investigation, the police questioned 22 witnesses, including several foreigners who survived the attack.

The killings took place on Aug. 31, 2002, when a group of men attacked a convoy of cars near the Grasberg mine owned by PT Freeport Indonesia in Timika, Papua.

Two U.S. nationals, Freeport teachers Rickey Lynn Spier and Leon Edwin Burgon, and one Indonesian, Bambang Riswanto, were killed in the attack. Eleven other people, including children, were injured.

On Jan. 11 this year, police arrested 12 men allegedly involved in the attack, later releasing four of them for lack of evidence.

Shortly after the attack, police had said there were indications Indonesian Military soldiers were involved.