JAKARTA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian police have named nine palm oil companies as suspects in forest and land fire cases affecting Sumatra and Kalimantan, with the cases covering 25,600 hectares of burned land.
Pipit Subiyanto, a senior official in the national police's environmental crimes unit, said on Wednesday that the corporate cases stemmed from 98 police reports. The companies have not been identified.
Separately, police have named 223 individuals as suspects in 273 reports involving around 5,158 hectares of burned land. Riau province recorded the most suspects, at 65, followed by South Sumatra with 48 and Central Kalimantan with 39.
Indonesia regularly battles land-clearing fires during the dry season, but has seen stronger-than-usual blazes this year, which have triggered severe haze across parts of Southeast Asia. ■
