REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- The Riau Police has named 15 arsonists as suspects responsible for the forest fires that occurred in January and February this year.

The 15 suspects were caught red-handed while deliberately setting fires in different districts in Riau province, Chief of the Riau Police Brigadier General Dolly Bambang Hermawan told the press here on Thursday.

The police hope to find the masterminds behind these arson attacks by interrogating the suspects.

Furthermore, the Riau Police will focus on investigating the forest and plantation fires in the province.

"Investigations will continue because we suspect they were ordered to set the fires by other orchestrators," a spokesman for the Riau Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Guntur Aryo Tejo, stated.

The police will also probe the possible involvement of plantation companies in the setting of the forest fires in several districts.

"There is no discrimination. If companies are proven to be involved, they will be questioned and brought to court. Last year, PT NSP was tried in court," Tejo affirmed.

Riau province has been hit by forest fires of late, which triggered haze in some cities and districts such as Meranti Islands, Bengkalis, Rokan Hilir and Rokan Hulu.

Land and aerial efforts to extinguish the fires are still going on.

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