In the latest development, the Lampung Police have named five suspects in five cases.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Five companies have been named suspects in land and forest fires by the police in Lampung, thereby adding to the list of corporate suspects in the case to 14 firms situated in some Indonesian regions.

"In the latest development, the Lampung Police have named five suspects in five cases. None of them are individual suspects," spokesman of the Indonesian Police Brig. Gen Dedi Prasetyo remarked here on Tuesday.

PT Sweet Indo Lampung, PT Indo Lampung Perkasa, PTPN 7, PT Paramitra Mulya Lampung, and another concession of PT Sweet Indo Lampung were the five corporations that the Lampung Police had named as suspects.

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Earlier, some companies named suspects in land and forest fires comprised PT Sumber Sawit Sejahtera in Riau, PT Bumi Hijau Lestari in South Sumatra, PT Mega Anugerah Sawit in Jambi, PT Monrad Intan Barakat and PT Borneo Indo Tani in South Kalimantan, PT Palmindo Gemilang Kencana in Central Kalimantan, PT Surya Agro Palma and PT Sepanjang Inti Surya Usaha in West Kalimantan.

Prasetyo affirmed that forest fires in nine regions -- Riau, Aceh, South Sumatra, Jambi, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and Lampung -- had covered an area of 7,482 hectares, with the largest area detected in South Sumatra, spanning 1,783 hectares.

"Our focus this week is on the investigation into the involvement of corporations allegedly negligent in controlling forest fire in their concession land. The companies failed to take preliminary measures to anticipate land and forest fires," he stated.

In addition to corporate suspects, the police have also named 323 individual suspects, comprising 79 in Central Kalimantan, 59 in Riau, one in Aceh, 26 in South Sumatra, 39 in Jambi, 26 in South Kalimantan, 69 in West Kalimantan, and 24 in East Kalimantan.
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Translator: Dyah DA, Sri Haryati
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