Hundreds arrested in Indonesia on suspicion of starting forest fires, could face 10 years in jail

Among those arrested were three men caught trying to clear land to plant crops in a park that is home to about 140 endangered wild elephants, police said

Those arrested could be prosecuted under an environmental protection law that mandates a maximum 10-year prison sentence for setting fires to clear land

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A forest fire in Pekanbaru, Riau province. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:30pm, 19 Sep 2019Updated: 6:11pm, 19 Sep 2019

Some 230 people have been arrested in Indonesia on suspicion of starting fires that are spreading health-damaging haze across a large part of Southeast Asia, police said on Thursday.

Among those arrested are three men who were caught on Monday while trying to clear land to plant crops in the Tesso Nilo National Park, which is home to about 140 endangered wild elephants, said national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo.

Those arrested could be prosecuted under an environmental protection law that mandates a maximum 10-year prison sentence for setting fires to clear land.

In addition to the arrests, Indonesian authorities have also sealed off land owned by at least 49 plantation companies in the past week for investigation after fires were found on their land.

Indonesia’s fires are an annual problem that strain relations with neighbouring countries. The smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand in a noxious haze.

The Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency satellites detected 2,719 hotspots across the country on Thursday. It said 99 per cent of the hotspots were caused by deliberately set fires.

The agency said 44 helicopters had dropped more than 270 million litres (71.3 million gallons) of water and 163 tons of salt for cloud seeding as part of the firefighting efforts.