Indonesian police have apologised for using a snake to terrify a suspected thief after footage appeared online.
Officers in the video laugh as an interrogator drapes the animal on a screaming, handcuffed man in the eastern Papua region.
The suspect was believed to have stolen mobile phones.
Read: ‘Run to the hills’: Tsunami fears spark chaos in Indonesia town
The local police chief said it was unprofessional but defended the practice, saying the snake was tame and non-venomous.
“We have taken stern action against the personnel,” Tonny Ananda Swadaya reportedly said in a statement, adding that the officers had not physically beaten the man.
They had acted on their own initiative to try to draw a confession from the suspect, he said.
Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman tweeted footage of the event, claiming officers had recently put a pro-Papua independence activist in a cell with a snake.
A voice in the video reportedly threatens to put the snake in the man’s mouth and down his trousers.
Read: Indonesia tsunami: Fears of new wave as Anak Krakatau volcano seethes
Reports of human rights abuses are common from Papua, where separatists have long sought independence from Indonesia.
The resource-rich area borders Papua New Guinea and became part of Indonesia in 1969.
In December Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe called on the army to leave the state amid a crackdown on rebels fighting for independence.
Troops sought members of the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, who killed a number of construction workers earlier in the month.
Source: bbc