Jakarta police still pursuing mangrove case: Prasetyo

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said on Friday that their investigation was moving along well and they would soon find the suspects in the illegal felling of about 240 mangrove trees adjacent to the Sedyatmo toll road in Kapuk, North Jakarta.

"So far, we have questioned 11 witnesses, and will question one witness later on Monday," he said.

The witnesses were from the National Land Agency, an official with the Ministry of Settlement and Infrastructure, an official with the city's Forestry Agency, two expert witnesses from universities and an official with PT Jasa Marga.

The police have not yet questioned officials from the advertising company PT Rainbow Cipta Utama, who are possibly the key witnesses in the case as the mangrove forest -- which is part of the Angke conservation zone -- may have been cut down in order to make the company's billboards more visible to drivers on the toll road.

The PT Rainbow billboards did not have any advertisements on them.

The progress of the police investigation into the case has moved quite slow, even though the police had stated that they would summon PT Rainbow officials on April 28.

However, without explaining the reason, police delayed the questioning for weeks.

PT Jasa Marga, the state toll road company, insisted that the area where the trees were, actually belonged to the company and not the city administration.

In the middle of April, Governor Sutiyoso, upset by the illegal felling, ordered the billboards to be taken down, saying that they were unlicensed.