Nine Forest Burners in Riau Arrested

TheIndonesia.id - The Riau Police have arrested nine individual suspects who were behind eight cases of forest and land fires in some places recently. Riau Police Chief Inspector General Mohammad Iqbal in his statement in Pekanbaru, Saturday, promised not to be indiscriminate in taking action against forest and land fires perpetrators, both individuals and corporations who are proven to have committed arson.

He detailed that the forest and land fires case handling took place at the Bengkalis Police with one case and one suspect, while the area that was burned was 2 hectares. Siak Police handles one case with one suspect and 4 hectares of land burned.

Meanwhile, the Rokan Hulu Police handles one case with two suspects and 2 hectares of land burned. Rokan Hilir Police handles three cases with three suspects and 12 hectares of land burned. Finally, the Indragiri Hilir Resort Police handles two cases with two suspects and 107.5 hectares of land burned.

"There are two cases still under investigation, in the first stage there is one case, and in the second stage, five cases," explained Inspector General Iqbal.

Iqbal appealed to the community, both individuals and companies, to no longer clear land by burning. Especially in the dry season which will certainly lead to a greater potential for forest and land fires.

Iqbal stated that thousands of personnel in his ranks were already very prepared if at any time they had to be sent to the location to take mitigation steps. He added that the Riau Police and its ranks continue to be committed to dealing with forest and land fires by carrying out prevention, suppression, and fair law enforcement.

"Our commitment is clear, Riau must be free from smoke disasters. Let's continue our success in dealing with forest and land fires, hand in hand, and work together. The key is that even the smallest hotspots must be quickly detected and extinguished," he said.