Bengkalis Police in Riau Names Suspect in Burning 3-hectare Land

The Bengkalis Police Criminal Investigation Unit when conducting a crime scene in the land fire case in Bantan District. ANTARA/HO-Bengkalis Police Riau

PEKANBARU - The Criminal Investigation Unit (Satreskrim) of the Bengkalis Police, Riau, has arrested a suspect in the crime of burning land of approximately three hectares located in Teluk Lancar Village, Bantan District.

Bengkalis Police Chief AKBP Fahrian Saleh Siregar said the determination of the suspect was made after going through an intensive trial process. In this case, investigators named a man with the initials AH (32) as a suspect.

"The suspect AH, who is a resident of Kampar Regency, is suspected of being the mastermind behind the destruction of thin peat mixed mineral land in Parit Panjang Village III. It is about three hectares in size," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, February 21.

The Police Chief explained that this case began to be sniffed out on Sunday (15/2) evening. When the team of the Special Criminal Investigation Unit of the Bengkalis Police detected a hot spot through satellite monitoring.

Following up on the order of the Head of Criminal Investigation Unit, the joint team immediately went to the field to verify the coordinates and coordinate with the local village apparatus to put out the fire.

Based on the results of the interrogation, the suspect AH admitted to burning a pile of wood (perun) and bushes on Thursday (12/2) afternoon. He revealed a shocking reason behind his actions, namely because he was disturbed by a wasp nest.

"The reason is because he felt disturbed by the presence of a hornet's nest at the location and intends to destroy it with fire," said Fahrian.

Unfortunately, the careless act resulted in a disaster when the remaining burning, which was considered to have gone out, turned out to spread to the surrounding vegetation. The fire slowly grew throughout Friday (13/2) until it reached its peak on Sunday afternoon (15/2).

Finally, the fire burned a three-hectare area of the residents' land and triggered a cloud of smoke in the surrounding area. Furthermore, the police secured a number of important evidence, including one machete and one palm sapling that had been burned.

"For his actions, AH is now charged with Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 39 of 2014 concerning Plantation," explained Fahrian.