The police have arrested 15 perpetrators of illegal logging in an area that is a green belt on the edge of the Jatibarang Reservoir, Semarang City, Central Java.
Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of Semarang Polrestabes AKBP Donny Lumbantoruan said the 15 people who were arrested acted as foreman and cutting workers as well as timber carriers.
"Another perpetrator is still being hunted, who ordered logging," he said in Semarang, Antara, Thursday, January 12.
He explained that the illegal logging was revealed from complaints from the community around the Jatibarang Reservoir against road damage due to tree cutting activities.
From these complaints, the police then checked the tree cutting activities in the green belt area.
According to him, the dozens of illegal offenders claimed to be employed by a person with the initials E who claimed to have a permit from the River Basin Center.
He explained that the illegal logging activity had been taking place since December 28, 2022.
The perpetrators admitted that there were about 15 trucks carrying sengon wood from the Jatibarang area that were sold to a company in Kendal.
Together with 15 perpetrators, all of whom came from outside the city of Semarang, a number of pieces of wood were also secured which were lifted by a truck, two chainsaws, and five motorbikes that had been modified to transport pieces of wood.
The illegal logging activity was subsequently charged with Law Number 17 of 2019 concerning water resources and Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning job creation that regulates the environment.
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