Twelve individuals, including local mothers, daily laborers, and teenage students, found themselves detained at the Mapolsek Selebar following a chaotic looting incident at a burned snack warehouse in Bengkulu. detikNews reported that the group was taken into custody after a video documenting the scavenging at the disaster site circulated widely across social media platforms, drawing immediate attention from local authorities.
Arrests Following Social Media Outcry in Bumi Ayu
The incident unfolded in the aftermath of a fire that struck a snack warehouse along Jalan Bumi Ayu Raya, located in Kelurahan Bumi Ayu, Kecamatan Selebar, Kota Bengkulu. According to Beritasatu.com, the Unit Opsnal Reskrim Polsek Selebar moved quickly on Friday afternoon, October 23, 2026, to identify and detain the suspects after the footage surfaced online.
Kapolsek Selebar Polresta Bengkulu, AKP Bayu Heri Purwono, confirmed that 12 people were secured at the Mapolsek for questioning. The detained suspects have been identified by the initials EW, MT, ZE, VB, IL, DN, DM, AR, CS, AS, AP, and MA. Investigators are currently reviewing the individual actions of each suspect to determine their precise involvement in the removal of goods from the charred property.
Police Seize Varying Amounts of Recovered Food
Police seized numerous cardboard boxes and hundreds of packets of recovered food products as evidence from the suspects’ homes and possessions. The scale of the retrieval varied significantly among the individuals involved. Documentation highlights that while some participants managed to salvage only a few renteng—the traditional plastic-strung strips of retail snacks—others walked away with up to 12 renteng, translating to roughly 120 individual packets of food, alongside at least one full cardboard box.
Following their detention, video footage captured the suspects standing before police officers to issue a formal apology. One of the detainees spoke on behalf of the group, expressing remorse for taking items from a business owner already reeling from a major disaster. “Saya bersama 11 pelaku lainnya memohon dan meminta maaf pada korban karena kami telah mengambil makanan di tempat bapak yang sedang tertimpa musibah, kami berjanji tidak akan mengulangi lagi perbuatan tersebut,” the detainee stated in the recording.
Family Requests Autopsy for Warehouse Manager
The chaotic scene at the warehouse runs parallel to a much darker ongoing investigation into the same facility. As Satujuang.com reported, the devastating fire also claimed the life of Febriansyah, the warehouse’s logistics manager. Representatives of the victim’s family, accompanied by legal counsel, formally requested a forensic autopsy at Rumah Sakit Bhayangkara Polda Bengkulu to investigate suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, noting that security padlocks and the victim’s mobile phone remain missing following the blaze that struck just hours after a corporate audit from Jakarta.
