Police name 126 people as suspects in land fire cases

BLOKBERITA -- The National Police of Indonesia has named 126 people as suspects in cases of land fires in Sumatera and Kalimantan.

"Each one of them is a suspect," the spokesperson of the National Police, Brigadier General Agus Rianto, said here on Tuesday.

Rianto explained that further investigation is on to determine their motives and whether they were hired to burn these lands or set fire to their own land.

The National Police, Rianto added, is processing 131 cases of land and forest fires that occurred in Riau, South Sumatera, Jambi, West Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.

Of these, 28 cases are in the pre-investigation phase while in 79 cases, the investigation is currently underway. Twenty-four cases are already in the P21 dossier stage.

Rianto said the National Police Headquarters would despatch some investigators from the regional police to the affected areas in order to assist the investigation process.

"We will send 70 investigators to some regions and will coordinate their work with the regional police department and the National Police's Criminal Agency," he noted.

"Hopefully, it would expedite the (investigation) process."

[ elha/antara ]