JABAR EKSPRES — The Trenggalek Resort Police, East Java, on Monday (17/4), destroyed 50 large hot air balloons prepared by residents to be flown before/post Eid al-Fitr 1444 Hijri prayer as a form of Victory Day celebration.
“There are dozens of hot air balloons that we confiscated and destroyed today,” said Trenggalek Police Chief, AKBP Alith Alarino, after the destruction at the Trenggalek Police Headquarters yard.
In addition to hot air balloons, he said, the police destroyed 50 brong exhausts confiscated from non-standard motorcycle vehicles. This number is still possible to increase because there are 75 vehicles resulting from illegal racing operations currently in the trial process.
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“We destroyed 50 exhausts, while the other 75 are still in the trial process,” said Alith.
He said all the evidence destroyed was the result of Operation Ketupat Semeru 2023.
On that occasion, Alith said that hot air balloon flights were prohibited not without reason because air balloons flown wildly had the potential to trigger fires if they fell in forest areas.
In addition, he explained, it could disrupt the electricity network if it hit the electrical network installation.
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“Then if there is an air incident and air traffic due to air balloons, the sanctions are not only national, but international. There are strict sanctions and there are laws that regulate it,” he said.
For this reason, Alith urged the public to be wiser by not flying hot air balloons, even though hot air balloon flights are commonly carried out by the community during the momentum of Eid al-Fitr.
“Although there are people who say it is part of tradition and culture, but in my opinion, culture should not be harmful. For this reason, we urge the public not to fly hot air balloons and play firecrackers. There have been many examples of the negative impacts caused,” he said.
