Police launch probe into Kebon Sirih fire
Police launch probe into Kebon Sirih fire
JAKARTA (JP): City police have asked residents to stay away
from the 10 buildings razed by fire over the weekend because they
are still investigating the cause of the fire.
The police also urged the owners of the buildings on Jl. Kebon
Sirih in Central Jakarta to wait for the laboratory examination
to finalize the investigation.
City police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna told The Jakarta
Post that an inquiry into the fire is underway.
The 10 buildings, all used for business activities, were razed
by fire early Saturday morning in circumstances the owners call
mysterious.
They said they found six jerricans and plastic bags filled
with petrol near the scene.
"I'm pretty sure this wasn't an accident because the jerricans
would not have been there if somebody didn't put them there,"
reasoned JM Hidayat, one of the owners.
Syamsul, another owner, supported Hidayat's conclusion.
Hidayat received the news that his office, PT Intrabu Jasa
Guna, was on fire at 5:30 a.m.
Police estimate the total loss may reach hundreds of millions
of rupiah.
Iman refused to disclose the preliminary results of the police
investigation.
He said the investigation is being carried out by police
officers from the Central Jakarta precinct with support from city
detectives and experts from the National Police forensic
laboratory.
The public, including owners, are not allowed on the site
without the police permission because the police are attempting
to locate the source of the fire, he said.
The police, he said, did not want anyone to frustrate their
investigation by tampering with the scene.
The detectives and forensic lab personnel have questioned a
number of witnesses and collected evidence from the area.
"The material evidence is currently being identified at the
police laboratory. The work will take months," Iman said.
According to Hidayat, he and the other building owners were
approached by some persons wanting to buy the land on which the
buildings stood for Rp 800,000 (US$350) a square meter.
Syamsul told Pos Kota daily on Saturday that he had also been
asked to sell his land for Rp 1.5 million a square meter. The
owners, however, refused to even consider the price because it
was too low, Syamsul said.
The owners stuck to their price of Rp 4 million a square meter
for the strategically located land.
Iman urged the owners to allow police to continue their
investigation into the real cause of the fire to avoid any more
problems. (bsr)