Suspected Illegal Tin Mining Leaves Pangkalpinang Residents Landless
PANGKALPINANG, Indonesia — A resident says about two hectares of private land along a riverbank in Pangkalpinang have been damaged by suspected illegal tin mining, with the operation allegedly tied to the husband of a city council member. The mining reportedly continued even after a police raid on June 20, 2026.
PANGKALPINANG — Pangkalpinang Residents Lose Land in Suspected Illegal Tin Mining Linked to DPRD Member’s Husband after a local resident said about two hectares of private land along a riverbank in Opas Indah were damaged by activity that kept going in plain sight.
The complaint is now putting fresh pressure on local police and city officials in Pangkalpinang, the capital of Bangka Belitung Islands province, where residents say repeated enforcement has not stopped the digging. The case also lands in sensitive territory because the name of a person linked to a city legislator has been pulled into the allegations.
Resident says land was damaged without permission
Imam Syafi'i, also known as Ayi, 50, said the damage hit his property in Gang Buntu, Opas Indah Village. He said the site sat along a riverbank and had already been degraded by repeated excavation.
Ayi said the work was coordinated by a man known as Kiki, who is said to be the husband of a member of the Pangkalpinang City Regional House of Representatives, or DPRD. He said the mining was not a rumor whispered at roadside stalls. It happened openly.
"I have been badly harmed. The land I owned has been destroyed without the slightest permission. I ask law enforcement to act firmly and not discriminate against anyone involved, regardless of status or position," Ayi told journalists from the KBO Babel media network on Monday, June 22, 2026.
Police raid did not stop the activity
What makes the case more troubling is the timing. Residents say Satpolairud of the Pangkalpinang Police, the water and air police unit, carried out an enforcement operation on Saturday, June 20, 2026. Several miners reportedly signed statements promising not to return.
Two days later, residents said the machines were back. This time, the work was said to run from night until dawn, a pattern that suggests the operators were trying to stay out of sight of police patrols.
That detail matters. If people who already signed written statements can return to the same site within 48 hours, then the real question is not just who was on the ground. It is who, if anyone, is shielding the operation.
Why the case matters beyond one plot of land
The dispute is about more than one damaged parcel. Residents near RE Martadinata Street say the excavation has gone on long enough to raise fears about river damage, erosion, safety risks, and possible conflict between neighbors if land boundaries keep shifting.
For ordinary households, the impact is direct. A riverbank stripped by mining can affect drainage and water quality, and it can also leave landowners with property that is harder to use, harder to defend, and harder to value. In a place like Bangka Belitung, where tin has long shaped the local economy, illegal mining cases also reopen old tensions between income, land rights, and environmental damage.
Residents say the government cannot keep calling an area a no-mining zone if excavators still return after police action. That gap between policy and reality is what makes this complaint sting.
Calls grow for the chain behind the mining
Ayi urged the Pangkalpinang Police Water and Air Unit to return to the site and take firm action against everyone involved, not only the workers seen at the pit. He said the public should not be left with the impression that the law works one way for some people and another way for those with influence.
The community is now pushing for investigators to trace the chain behind the operation, from field coordinators and funders to any parties alleged to provide protection. That approach could matter if police want to show they are not dealing with just a handful of laborers who can be replaced overnight.
As of this report, Kiki and other parties mentioned in the allegations had not issued any official response. The KBO Babel editorial team said it continued to seek confirmation and to provide space for the right of reply.
"The public should not be left thinking that the law is sharp downward but blunt upward," Ayi said.
