Further, as many as 25 people have been named as suspects in the cases, spokesman for the West Kalimantan Provincial Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Arianto said here on Saturday.
All the suspects are local people who set fire to land for agricultural and plantation purposes, he noted.
The provincial police are investigating three companies suspected of setting fire to land. The companies have been identified as PT KAL and PT SKM located in Ketapang district and PT RJP located in Kubu Raya district.
"We have investigated the management of the three companies, but we have not named any of them as suspects," he said.
Preliminary data from the provincial police show that some 525 hectares of land in the province caught fire during this drought.
He said 22 hectares of land are located in Kubu Raya district, 14.5 hectares in Sambas district, 2.7 hectares in Bengkayang district, 7 hectares in Landak district, 110 hectares in Sanggau district, 16 hectares in Sekadau district, 60 hectares in Melawi district, 111 hectares in Sintang district, 12 hectares in Kapuas Hulu district, and 33 hectares in Ketapang district.
Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya said, while accompanying President Joko Widodo during an inspection of firefighting efforts in the village of Rimbo Panjang in the district of Kampar in the Sumatra province of Riau on Friday, that 1.7 million hectares of forests and land in Sumatra and Kalimantan have so far been burnt in the fires.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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