"Based on our reports, 201 persons have been named as suspects, including 192 individuals and nine corporations," the Head of the Public Information Department, Brigadier General Agus Riyanto said at the National Police Headquarters on Friday.
He said 68 individual suspects had been detained and that dossiers related to their cases had been filed, similar to the ones filed on five other corporations, which have been submitted to the prosecutors office.
Dossiers have been submitted to the prosecutors office in South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau and Kalimantan.
Agus said the crime investigation department at the National Police headquarters has so far only handled cases in South Sumatra, as others are being handled by the regional police command.
He said the National Police Headquarters had deployed 670 personnel to help fight forest fires and 70 investigators to examine cases related to them.
National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti said dealing with the problem would first involve preventing the involvement of the regional governments, the military and the police.
"An information campaign must be carried out for the public, so that fires cab be detected as early as possible and are easier to control. It would take a lot of facilities, as well as personnel and expenditure to overcome the problem," he stated.
Badrodin further said companies had been requested to provide fire extinguishers, including water reservoirs for dousing fires and deploying personnel to fight the fires.
He added that during his recent tour of areas affected by fires, along with President Joko Widodo, he had found that the worst fires were raging in Central Kalimantan.
"We have asked the President to take preventive measures and step up fire-fighting efforts, including developing canals to provide water for extinguishing fires," he stated.
He added that the police and the President were still unsatisfied with the efforts made so far.
"We must boost efforts aimed at law enforcement to prevent a recurrence going forward," he said.
Reporting by Aubrey Kandelila Fanani
(H-YH/INE)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
