Manager Of Wedding Organizer Suspect Of Forest And Land Fires Bukit Teletubbies Bromo Gara-gara Flare Prewedding

Probolinggo Police Chief AKBP Wisnu Wardana showed evidence of forest and land fires on Mount Bromo's Teletubbies in a press conference held at the local Police Headquarters, Thursday (7/9/2023) evening. (ANTARA/HO-Polres Probolinggo)

ProBOLINGGO - Officials from the Criminal Investigation Unit (Satreskrim) of the Probolinggo Police, East Java named the wedding organizer manager as a suspect in the case of forest and land fires (Karhutla) on the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Teletubbies (TNBTS) hill which went viral on social media.

"After carrying out a series of examinations of the six people we arrested, one person was named a suspect based on two sufficient pieces of evidence, so that his status was raised from the witness to suspect," said Probolinggo Police Chief AKBP Wisnu Wardana as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, September 7.

The Savana Watangan Block or the Bukit Teletubbies area on Mount Bromo caught fire on Wednesday (6/9) at around 11.30 WIB due to the negligence of visitors who used smoke flares during a pre-wedding photo.

"It is true that the fire in Teletubbies Hill was because one of the five smoke flares erupted when it was lit, so that it emitted sparks that eventually burned the dried grass in the savana field," he said.

As a result of the fire, he continued, the TNBTS manager immediately reported to the Sukapura Police, which was immediately followed up by the Sukapura Police Chief and members by visiting the Bukit Telettubies area to assist the extinguishing process and securing the six people involved in the pre-wedding photo activity.

"After we asked for information from the six people, we named AP (41), a resident of Lumajang Regency who is the manager of the wedding organizer as a suspect in the Karhutla case in Teletubbies Hill," he said.

When entering the TNBTS area, he continued, the wedding operator manager did not have a Permit to Enter the Conservation Area (Simaksi), thus violating the rules.

"With the fire incident, we deeply regret it because many parties have been harmed. We are certainly very serious in taking firm action against the perpetrators who set fire to both forest and land," he said.

The suspect charged with Article 50 paragraph 3 letter d in conjunction with Article 78 paragraph 4 of Law Number 41 of 1999 concerning Forestry as amended in Article 50 paragraph 2 letter b in conjunction with Article 78 paragraph 5 of Law Number 6 of 2023 concerning Stipulation of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 2 of 2022 concerning Job Creation into Law and or Article 188 of the Criminal Code with a maximum imprisonment of five years and a maximum fine of IDR 1.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Park Management Section Region I TNBTS Didit Sulistyo appealed to all tourism service actors, as well as visitors in the Bromo Tengger Semeru area to maintain their behavior and not bring goods that have the potential to cause fires.