North Sumatra Police Detain 17 People Suspected of Illegal Gold Mining at Border Between South Tapanuli and Mandailing Natal

Medan (ANTARA) – The North Sumatra Regional Police have detained 17 people suspected of involvement in illegal gold mining at the border between South Tapanuli Regency and Mandailing Natal Regency. The 17 people currently detained are still listed as witnesses and have not yet been named as suspects, Brigadier General Sonny Irawan, Deputy Chief of the North Sumatra Regional Police, said in a statement received in Medan on Tuesday. The designation of suspects will be made after the suspected miners are brought from the mining area to the police station for further questioning. He added that investigators will examine the roles of each person detained, including grouping them by the work clusters at the mining site. Moreover, the North Sumatra Police are still conducting investigations to identify those believed to own or control the large-scale gold mine. In the operation, authorities seized 14 heavy equipment units of the excavator type. Specifically, 12 units were secured at the mining site and two units were seized while en route to the site. The action was carried out by a joint team comprising the Brimob Unit and the Directorate of Special Criminal Investigation (Ditreskrimsus) of the North Sumatra Regional Police, involving more than 200 personnel. As for the heavy equipment evidence, police plan to evacuate the excavators from the forest area on the same day and store them at Brimob Battalion C in Sipirok. The evacuation process is expected to take about one to two days because the heavy equipment must be lowered from the Batang Gadis River area to a residential area before being transported by a special Trado-type truck.