Indonesia: Police drop fire cases in W. Kalimantan

Jakarta Post 25 Jul 16;

West Kalimantan Police will not prosecute a company and three individuals allegedly involved in four cases of land and forest fires in 2015, citing a lack of evidence.

Local police spokesman Sr. Comr. Suhadi SW confirmed recently the legal process involving the four cases had been terminated.

“Following a preliminary investigation we came to the conclusion that there is not sufficient evidence to build those cases,” Suhadi said.

In total, 35 cases of land and forest fires occurred last year, four of which allegedly involved companies and the remaining 31 involved individuals. Suhadi did not reveal the identity of the companies and the individuals.

Meanwhile, West Kalimantan has been free from haze as of July because of a lower number of hotspots compared to last year. In the January to July 2016 period, authorities detected 43 hotspots, which were far fewer than the 378 hotspots found in the same period last year.