One Perpetrator Of House Burning In Jember Has Been Arrested

One of the victims of the burning of a house in Jember (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Jember Resort Police (Polres) has arrested one perpetrator who is suspected of setting fire to several residents' houses in one of the hamlets in Mulyorejo Village, Jember Regency, East Java.

"We have obtained several statements from witnesses at the scene and we have arrested one suspect," said Jember Police Chief, AKBP Hery Purnomo as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, August 6.

The perpetrators of the burning of several houses in Baban Timur Hamlet are residents of Kalibaru District, Banyuwangi Regency, so the Jember Police continues to develop arrests.

According to him, the incident occurred at several points and one of them was caused by a conflict related to boundary issues at the coffee plantation location.

"There are several residents occupying the area at that location. Their position is in Dampikrejo and Statuerejo Hamlets, only their houses are far from one another. They are harvesting coffee," he said.

He said that the Jember area is directly adjacent to Banyuwangi Regency, so there are often people who feel that some of the coffee that is their right has been taken away and eventually accumulated until a group of people set fire to it.

"The incident was an accumulation of problems over the years and only emerged at this time because based on available information that the conflict had occurred before," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of Public Relations of the Jember Police, Iptu Brisan, said that members of the Criminal Investigation Unit and Intelkam of the Jember Police had arrested one person suspected of being the perpetrator of the burning of a number of houses in Baban Timur Hamlet, in Mulyorejo Village, Silo District.

"Dozens of Brimob personnel from the East Java Police set up a command post at the location on Friday night, so it is hoped that the situation in the two hamlets of Statuerejo and Dampikrejo in East Baban Hamlet will soon be conducive," he said.