Pekanbaru, Riau, (Antarariau.com) - The Provincial Police of Riau detained 24 people for allegedly setting fires in plantation areas in several districts and cities.
Of the 24 people, eight were detained by the Bengkalis police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Guntur Aryo Tejo, stated here on Tuesday.
Five were detained in Rokan Hilir, four in Pelalawan, two in Indragiri Hilir, two others in Meranti, and one each in Pekanbaru, Dumai and Siak.
In Dumai city, a female farmer was detained for allegedly causing a fire, he pointed out.
The 24 perpetrators acted individually when setting the fires, he explained.
"So far, there are no suspects from any corporation or company," he added.
The local police are still investigating a possible involvement in setting the fires deliberately.
The Terra and Aqua satellite has detected a total of 1,234 hotspots from forest, plantation and peatland fires in Riau province.
The haze produced by the hotspots will not cross over to Malaysia or Singapore because the wind blows from the north and the east in the opposite direction toward the neighboring countries, Ardhitama, the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics office (BMKG) stated on Monday.
The number was lesser than 1,526 hotspots detected on June 23, 2013, he added. Last year s hotspots produced haze that affected Malaysia and Singapore.
"This time, it will not happen again because the wind direction is consistently from north and east toward south," he stated.
He quoted the data from the U.S.NOAA 18 satellite that detected hotspots not only in Indonesia, but also in other ASEAN member countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.
