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View all search resultsChinese businessman named suspect in Cikande radioactive case
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A woman sits on Oct. 8, 2025 on the terrace of her house which is located near the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate in Serang, Banten, that was contaminated by radioactive Cesium-137, which is believed to have come from imported scrap metal recycled by a local company. (Antara/Angga Budhiyanto)
T
he police have named Lin Jingzhang, director of PT Peter Metal Technology (PMT), a suspect in the case of radioactive contamination at the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate in Banten, as authorities face pressure to tighten supervision to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
On Thursday, a task force assigned to handle the Cikande contamination announced Lin’s status as a suspect, following a series of investigations involving the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten) and the Environment Ministry.
“The Immigration Office has slapped a travel ban against the suspect,” said the task force’s spokesperson Bara Krishna Hasibuan, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Lin, a Chinese national, is suspected of deliberately obtaining scrap metals through illegal means for raw materials to be melted at a smelting plant owned by PMT. The suspect also allegedly stored the scrap metals without following proper procedures, causing them to spread Cesium-137 (Cs-137) radioactive material into its surroundings.
An investigation into the radioactive contamination in Cikande was launched after the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found traces of Cs-137 in frozen shrimp exported by PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS), an Indonesian company based in Cikande.
The initial probe found the exported shrimp packages were contaminated with Cs-137 through airborne dust containing radioactive particles from PMT’s plant, located less than 2 kilometers from BMS’ factory.
During further investigation, investigators also found slag and refractories, heat-resistant materials usually used in furnaces, allegedly containing toxic materials. They were found stored in a solid state at PMT’s warehouse without proper management.
