REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SAMPIT -- The East Kotawaringin District police have taken six more people into custody for allegedly setting fires in bush areas.
"We arrested them in Parebggeab and Baamang. They are still being interrogated at the local police offices," Adjunct Commissioner Andri Samudra Yudhapatie, the head of the East Kotawaringin police office's crime investigation unit, informed the press here on Thursday.
Five are being detained in Parenggean police office and one in Baamang police office.
The district's police have, so far, arrested 11 persons and five of them have been named suspects, but none of them have yet been prosecuted.
The two suspects Marjiono and Endy confessed to have set fire to clear their own land for creating plantation areas.
The police earlier arrested five people for setting off forest fires in Mentawa Baru Ketapang and Cempaga Hulu sub-districts in East Kotawaringin District.
"The initials of the five perpetrators of forest fires are Bg, Ei, Ti, Mo, and Ga. We have named them suspects and will interrogate them," Chief of the East Kotawaringin Police Himawan Bayu Aji stated on September 29, 2014.
They were caught red-handed while setting fires in bushes. The police have seized some evidence such as lighters, gasoline, hoes, and machetes.
Four of the perpetrators were male, and one was female, he pointed out.
The East Kotawaringin district administration has declared an emergency status due to the haze arising from the forest and plantation fires in the district.
The haze has engulfed East Kotawaringin over the past few days and has affected the health of local inhabitants, particularly children.
In a bid to mitigate the problem of wild fires in several provinces, Vice President Boediono led a coordinating meeting in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Sept. 23, 2014.
The meeting was held to evaluate the current situation of forest fires that has caused haze in several provinces across Indonesia, including in South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.
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