The National Police Ensure There is No Sabotage of the Sumatra Blackout

The Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police and PLN representatives show the transmission cable that was cut off during the "blackout" event in Sumatra at the National Police Criminal Investigation Unit Building, Jakarta, Monday (25/5/2026). ANTARA/Nadia Putri Rahmani

JAKARTA - The Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police has confirmed that there was no sabotage in the mass power outage (blackout) in Sumatra on Friday (22/5).

"Until now, we can confirm that there is no indication of sabotage or intentional elements in the blackout," said Deputy Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit (Wakabareskrim) of the National Police, Inspector General Nunung Syaifuddin, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, May 25.

He explained that the joint team consisting of the Criminal Investigation Directorate (Dittipidter) of the National Police, the General Crime Investigation Directorate (Dittipidum) of the National Police, Puslabfor Polri, the Jambi Police Crime Investigation Unit, and representatives of PT PLN had carried out an investigation on Sunday (24/5).

The investigation was carried out on tower 175 and tower 176 of the electricity transmission network in Tempino Village, Mestong District, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi Province.

This is based on the results of the initial identification on Friday (22/5) at around 18.44 WIB, there has been a disruption in the SUTET 275 kV transmission network of the Muara Bungo-Sungai Rumbai line in Jambi.

He revealed that at the investigation location, the joint team found a broken transmission cable. Meanwhile, the physical condition of the transmission tower is still in good condition and no significant damage was found.

"Based on initial information on the ground, the incident of the transmission cable breaking is suspected to have occurred suddenly due to the influence of weather factors and still requires further technical and scientific exploration," he said.

The suspicion was strengthened by the statements of the community around the scene of the incident which explained that shortly before the incident occurred an explosion then there was a power outage in the area around the transmission tower.

Furthermore, the joint team coordinated with PT PLN and obtained information before the disturbance on May 22, 2026 at 18.30 WIB, the condition of the electricity system in Sumatra was in a normal and integrated state.

It is also known that there is a significant power flow to West Sumatra through the Jambi transmission corridor, namely the Muara Bungo-Sungai Rumbai line.

Therefore, if there is a disruption, it has the potential to cause a large amount of power supply loss and trigger a blackoutsystem interconnection of Sumatra.

Therefore, Nunung said the temporary cause of the blackout was due to technical factors and extreme weather which caused disturbances in the electricity transmission system, not because of sabotage.

"Because the damage or the break of this cable or network is not neat. It is more fibrous or fibrous. So, if it is sabotage, the pieces must be more neat," he said.

However, for further interest, the part of the transmission cable that was disconnected is currently in the hands of the National Police Puslabfor for laboratory examination and further analysis to find out the exact cause of the damage.

"All of our investigation processes are carried out professionally, transparently, and comprehensively to ensure the main causes of the incident are scientifically and accountable so that we involve Puslabfor to be more scientifically convincing," he said.