Police Name 72 Suspects in Forest and Land Fires, Reveal Their Methods

The Indonesian National Police are strengthening prevention, handling, and law enforcement efforts against forest and land fires amid the prolonged dry season and the El Niño phenomenon. The measures include enhanced mitigation from the pre-disaster stage, readiness of personnel and infrastructure, and firm action against those proven to have carried out burning.

Head of the Public Information Bureau of the Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, said that handling forest and land fires does not only focus on extinguishing and law enforcement, but also on building public awareness to prevent fires from an early stage. “What we hope with our media colleagues is that we can provide awareness, knowledge, and understanding to the public about an approach of building awareness and action to protect the environment,” Trunoyudo said at a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday.

According to him, the Police together with various stakeholders have taken anticipatory steps based on the direction of President Prabowo Subianto in a limited meeting on 28 July 2026 regarding the El Niño phenomenon, extreme weather, and the threat of forest and land fires. The Police are strengthening mitigation through updated mapping of fire-prone areas, field verification of hotspots, strengthening of early warning systems, and integrated patrols with the military, Manggala Agni, regional governments, and the public. Hundreds of readiness assemblies and prevention socialisation activities have also been carried out in various regions.

Trunoyudo stressed that the public needs to increase vigilance against activities that could potentially trigger fires, including land clearing by burning and waste burning. “What we are conveying is not merely forest and land fire mitigation and law enforcement on environmental issues, but also awareness of public safety and, of course, protection of the environment as a sustainability and welfare for the life of the Indonesian nation,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Head of Operations Bureau of the Police Operations Staff, Brigadier General Auliansyah Lubis, said the Police have made preparations to face the potential of forest and land fires well before entering the peak of the dry season. The preparations were carried out through cross-ministerial and institutional coordination as well as personnel readiness down to the regional level. “The Police have also carried out preparatory activities in all regions. So all work units, all regional police down to the resort police level have made preparations,” Auliansyah said.

According to Auliansyah, the readiness includes personnel assemblies, checking of infrastructure, land and air patrols using helicopters and drones, socialisation of the burning ban, mapping of vulnerable points, and construction of wetting infrastructure such as retention basins, canal blocks, and boreholes. In response to hotspots, the Police apply an early detection mechanism through satellites and public reports which are then verified directly in the field. If a fire point is found, personnel together with relevant stakeholders immediately carry out extinguishing and cooling before proceeding with an investigation if a criminal offence is suspected.

“In response to fire point threats, the Police apply a rapid response SOP with a target of one to two hours since the satellite detects a hotspot,” Auliansyah explained. He added that the Police have also prepared personnel strength and various supporting facilities to handle forest and land fires, including portable water pumps, tactical vehicles for forest and land fire facilities, fire suppression drones, and helicopters that can be used for water bombing.

From the law enforcement side, Director of Certain Crimes at the Police Criminal Investigation Agency, Brigadier General Mohammad Irhamni, said that from 1 January to 21 August 2026, the Police have issued 89 police reports related to suspected forest and land fire criminal offences in nine regional police jurisdictions, namely Riau, West Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Jambi, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Aceh, and North Kalimantan. From the handling of these cases, the Police have named 72 individual suspects with the total burned area in the handled cases reaching 1,006.67 hectares.

Irhamni explained that most of the handled cases began with hotspot monitoring which was then verified by officers in the field. If a fire point or burned land is found, officers first carry out extinguishing and cooling to ensure personnel safety. After conditions are declared safe, investigators process the crime scene and collect evidence to determine whether criminal elements exist.

According to him, the methods found in a number of these cases were dominated by land clearing by deliberately burning. This method was chosen because it is considered cheaper and more economical compared to using other land clearing methods. “Most of the modus operandi used by the suspects is clearing land by deliberately burning so that the operational costs of farming activities become cheap or economical,” Irhamni said.

In practice, land that has previously been cut down is then burned to clear remaining vegetation. Besides being cheaper, burning is also considered to provide benefits for the perpetrators because the ash from the burning can be used as an element that fertilises the soil before the land is used for plantation activities.

Irhamni stressed that economic reasons cannot justify burning, especially in conditions of prolonged drought and El Niño which make fires spread more easily and difficult to control. “Whatever the reason, economic reasons, ease, and so on, please do not carry out burning at times like this,” he asserted.

In the investigation process, the Police have also seized various pieces of evidence that strengthen the suspicion of deliberate burning activities. The evidence includes 35 lighters, a number of bottles and jerry cans containing fuel, 21 machetes, two axes, hoes, and two other items.