Gakkum Kemenhut secures illegal coal financiers in TN Kutai, excavators seized

JAKARTA - The Directorate General of Law Enforcement (Gakkum) of the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) has examined the mining financier in the Kutai National Park forest area with the initials AF and named him a suspect.

Head of the Regional Forestry Office of Kalimantan, Ministry of Home Affairs, Leonardo Gultom explained that his party had examined the suspect AF for his role as a financier of the C mining in the Kutai National Park area in East Kalimantan using heavy equipment in the form of an excavator.

"We will continue to enforce the law related to the mining of C minerals in this Kutai National Park and ask investigators to develop this case to investigate other perpetrators involved in the mining of C minerals in the Kutai National Park," said Leonardo as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, March 4.

"Efforts to enforce the law against illegal activities within the conservation area will continue to be carried out consistently in order to provide a deterrent effect and protect forest areas from illegal mining activities that have an impact on ecological damage," he added.

He explained that the case began with a joint patrol activity to secure the area which found the remains of a C excavation hole within the Kutai National Park area on December 17, 2025.

After the search was carried out, the team found six heavy equipment in the form of excavators located in three different locations around the crime scene.

After coordinating with the East Kalimantan High Prosecutor's Office and the title of the case as a result of the investigation with the East Kalimantan Regional Police Special Criminal Investigation Directorate, the handling of the case was upgraded to an investigation and AF was named a suspect.

For his role in illegal mining within the national park area, the suspect AF was threatened with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp5 billion.