Twelve named suspects as helicopters fight flames

JAKARTA: The Riau Police have named 12 people suspects in land and forest fire cases in Riau province, where wildfires have destroyed 2,719ha of land in the past three months.

The police arrested six people in Rokan Hilir, Bengkalis, Meranti Islands, Pekanbaru and Dumai from January to February, according to Riau police chief Inspector-General Widodo Eko Prihastopo on Monday.

“Six others were caught red-handed burning land to clear land,” Gen Widodo said.

All 12 suspects were farmers and residents.

Ten of the suspects are currently under investigation while another two were handed to prosecutors.

“All are individual suspects. None of them were corporations,” Gen Widodo said.

The police, he said, would not hesitate to take action if they found evidence of involvement of a corporation.

The head coordinator of the Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Edwar Sanger, said the wildfires were likely to keep spreading, as the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pekanbaru was still detecting hot spots.

Edwar said Bengkalis was the hardest hit regency with 1,263ha of burned land. Most districts in the regency have experienced wildfires since early this year.

However, the most severe wildfires were seen on Rupat Island, where peatland was on fire throughout February, causing thick smoke that spread to the city of Dumai on the Sumatran mainland.

Aside from Bengkalis, severe wildfires were reported in the east coast areas of Rokan Hilir (407ha), Meranti (222.4ha) and Dumai (192.25ha). — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network