Riau Police Reveals Destruction of Mangroves in Meranti, 2 Illegal Charcoal Stove Owners Arrested

PEKANBARU - Enforcement of the practice of destroying mangrove forests in coastal areas was carried out again by the Riau Police. In an operation that took place in the Meranti Islands, two illegal charcoal stove owners were secured along with thousands of sacks of mangrove charcoal ready to be sent abroad.

This step is part of the consistency of law enforcement emphasized by the Riau Police Chief Inspector General Herry Heryawan, especially in maintaining the coastal ecosystem which has an important role for environmental sustainability in Riau.

The disclosure began from public information regarding the activity of transporting mangrove charcoal without official documents.

Following up on this information, the Unit 4 Team of Sub-Directorate IV Tipidter of the Riau Police's Criminal Investigation Unit conducted an investigation until finally finding the KM Aldan 2 ship which was loading mangrove charcoal in an illegal charcoal kitchen in Sesap Village, West Tebing Tinggi District, on Saturday, April 25, 2026.

The Director of Special Criminal Investigation of the Riau Police, Kombes Ade Kuncoro, explained that from the ship, 580 bags of mangrove charcoal were secured which were ready to be sent.

"We then developed this finding to lead to two locations of charcoal kitchens that are the source of production," he said, Wednesday, May 6.

The development took the team to two different points, each in Sesap Village and Sokop Village, Rangsang Coastal District. At these locations, investigators found large-scale mangrove charcoal production activities that had been going on for quite some time.

From the results of the search, the police secured around 3,000 sacks of mangrove charcoal with an estimated weight of more than 100 tons. In addition, dozens of cubic meters of mangrove wood were also found as raw materials ready to be processed.

All of these activities were carried out without permission and used mangrove wood that was illegally cut from coastal areas.

The results of the preliminary investigation showed that this practice had been going on for 2 to 3 years, with the aim of distribution to foreign markets, one of which was to Batu Pahat, Malaysia.

In this case, investigators named three people as suspects, namely B alias CC and M alias AW as owners of the charcoal kitchen, and SA who played the role of the captain of the transport ship.

The three were charged with the Forestry Law and the Law on the Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp5 billion.

The Riau Police are still developing this case to trace the possibility of the involvement of a wider distribution network, including indications of connectivity with cross-border markets.