Tulungagung Police Arrest Dozens Of Teens, Seize 39 Air Balloons That Make PLN Loss

Tulungagung Police Chief AKBP Mohammad Taat Resdi (center) showed evidence of firecrackers and air balloon equipment that had been confiscated/ANTARA

The Tulungagung Resort Police arrested 16 teenagers and confiscated 39 unmanned hot air balloons during raids held in a number of vulnerable areas in the past week.

Tulungagung Police Chief AKBP Taat Resdi said the hot air balloon accompanied by firecrackers was very dangerous for flight safety and was at risk of causing explosions, fires, and disruptions to electricity distribution.

"We are serious about taking action against this violation because it can endanger the wider community," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, April 10.

Raids were held in six sub-districts, namely Bandung, Besuki, Pakel, Boyolangu, Gondang, and Kalangbret. From the operation, officers confiscated dozens of balloons, firecrackers of various sizes, flight aid, and a car.

A total of six balloons were known to have flown and were successfully lowered, while the rest were secured before flying.

In the operation, 16 people were arrested, consisting of seven people who are now being prosecuted and nine others undergoing coaching.

The perpetrators were charged with Article 1 paragraph (1) of the Emergency Law Number 12 of 1951 concerning explosives, Article 421 paragraph (2) of Law Number 1 of 2009 concerning Aviation, as well as Article 406 of the Criminal Code concerning vandalism.

The police chief appealed to the public not to fly hot air balloons, especially those accompanied by firecrackers, because they have the potential to endanger and violate the law.

Meanwhile, the PLN Madiun ULT Manager, Ikhsan, said that the potential loss due to electricity distribution disruption due to wild air balloons reached hundreds of billions of rupiah.

"If you look at the eight districts that were affected by the blackout, the losses could be hundreds of billions of rupiah," he said.

According to Ikhsan, the cut off of electricity has a large impact on the household sector to the industry. When the flow is cut off, production stops and causes chain losses.

However, PLN could not take legal action because balloon flight actors were difficult to identify.

Ini salah satu kendalanya. Balong udara ini sering kali berasal dari daerah lain, bahkan jaraknya puluhan hingga ratusan kilometer dari lokasi jatuh, ujarnya.