Jakarta – Thousands of villagers went on a rampage at a pineapple plantation in southern Sumatra in Lampung province, looting and burning warehouses and other facilities, sources and press reports said Thursday. Angry mobs from 10 villages in Padangratu district, Lampung province, began looting the plantation shortly after midnight Tuesday. Eleven trucks, a van, four tractors, five motorcycles, a dormitory and warehouses containing spare parts, fuel, medicine and fertilizers were burned, the Media Indonesia daily reported.

"Reports we received from Lampung say the crowds came all at once in different locations and started the attack. It seemed very well-organized," said Andi Chandra, manager of the plantation firm, Tris Delta Agrindo.

All 4,667 hectares (11,527 acres) of pineapple fields had been staked out into small holdings by 2,733 heads of families, who up until Thursday had refused to leave, he added. "Some people pulled up the pineapples, some of which had been ready to harvest, and began planting cassava and palm oil trees," Chandra told AFP, adding that the angry mobs had also threatened to burn down the cannery. "Production has been temporarily halted since the incident," Chandra said. Tris Delta Agrindo is a Taiwanese-Indonesian joint venture company that employs some 2,000 people, most of whom are transmigrants from Java. The company, whose products are targetted wholly for export, was established in 1988 in cooperation with the Indonesian department of transmigration, which has a 10 percent stake in the company. "The locals are claiming that the government seized their lands unfairly," Chandra said.