One suspect was arrested in the case of forest fires in Bengkalis, named Subari (64). He had burned his two-hectare land but the fire later spread to 30 hectares.Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Nine people have been arrested in connection with forest and peat land fires in several places in Riau.
"One suspect was arrested in the case of forest fires in Bengkalis, named Subari (64). He had burned his two-hectare land but the fire later spread to 30 hectares. The affected villagers later reported him," head of the law enforcement task force, Senior Commissioner Sofyan said to Antara here on Tuesday.
The second case, he said, happened in Rokan Hilir involving five people, one of them, Hotman Burba (58), was believed to be the owner of around 60 hectares of land that had burned.
He said Hotman was believed to have cleared his peat land by burning it using gasoline and have also ordered four people namely Katiman, Suhadi, Riza and Bobi to help carry it out.
He said the flames later developed uncontrollably causing 400 hectares others burned.
"The fire has caused severe smoke to make minimally 276 villagers to evacuate," he said.
He said "the five people are still being questioned at the Rokan Hilir Police Resort.
Other fires meanwhile happened in Pelalawan district involving two suspects, Sunmardi and Sukhai, he said.
They had cleared land by burning it using used tires but the flame later spread to burn 53 hectares others.
Sofyan said the fire in Siak district meanwhile involved one suspect, Taufik (20).
He also cleared land by burning and the flame later spread due to strong winds and burned 20 hectares of land belonging to PT Arara Abadi.
"The suspect in Siak was arrested on Monday afternoon. So, totally there are four cases with nine suspects that have uncovered," he said. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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