Cases Of Alleged Illegal Logging In North Sumatra Entered The Investigation Stage Of The Criminal Investigation Unit Of The Police

JAKARTA - The alleged illegal logging case in North Sumatra (North Sumatra) has entered the investigation stage of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police Headquarters. The increase in the status of this case after two pieces of evidence were found that corroborated the existence of criminal acts of environmental damage.

"The basis is, of course, two pieces of evidence were found, there were criminal incidents of environmental damage that caused floods," said the Director of Certain Crimes at Bareskrim Polri, Brigadier General Moh Irhamni to reporters, Wednesday, December 10, 2025.

He said the findings were obtained from field checks in Garoga and Anggoli Watersheds, Batang Toru District, South Tapanuli Regency, and Sibabangun District, Central Tapanuli.

"Earlier, what was conveyed was evidence of what had been found in the field, then it was found upstream as a source of the wood," said Irhamni.

Meanwhile, Kasubagops Dittipidter Bareskrim Polri Kombes Fredya Trihararbakti explained, field inspections showed a buildup of wood at a number of points, especially around KM 6 and KM 8. Large land clearing can be seen clearly from the image of the air, accompanied by landslides that are considered not to occur naturally.

"Friends, it can be clear that there are land openings at KM 8 and KM 6 where there is an avalanche. There are several land clearings by a company," he added.

According to Fredya, at that point, the joint team found one bulldozer and two excavators left without operators.

"When the joint team of Bareskrim Dittipidter, then the North Sumatra Police, here are friends from the Ministry/Institutions of Forestry, Environment, and from BPDAS, when they visited KM 8, they found that there were two excavators and one bulldozer who was indeed he, allegedly fled, was not there, left just by heavy equipment. So we secured and carried out deepening of operators and equipment ownership, including his activities," he said.

In other locations, said Fredya, investigators and a team of experts identified rubber and durian wood mixed with flood materials. strong indications of slashing upstream.

"Investigators with experts found allegations of rubber wood trees and durian trees. Now this is a river flow. The form of the river flow. The form of the swift flow of flooding is so that the investigators and experts suspect that this small river flow is sweeping or carrying garbage, wood in the KM 8 and KM 6 areas. Now this can be seen in the condition of land clearing in the KM 8 area," he explained.

In addition, experts find land slopes that should not be carried out planting or opening activities, but are still being worked on.

"So there are rules not to be allowed to carry out planting activities in areas that have certain values of corruption. Certain degrees," he said.

So, added Fredya, the small river in the area seemed to change direction after hitting the land opening, carrying wood from upstream and forming a new estuary that empties back into the Garoga River. This condition is believed to be one of the causes of flooding which then swept the infrastructure below.

"This river flow is what we can see that what brings wood waste, the results of mining openings or illegal logging activities with a modus operandi that we may not be able to convey because it is still under investigation," he explained.