Rp 2.9 billion jewelry smuggling attempt foiled

Officers from the Sulawesi customs and excise office have arrested a Malaysian and a Jakarta resident for attempting to smuggling 9.32 kilograms of gold jewelry worth about Rp 24 billion (US$2.4 million)

Teguh Indrayana, head of the office, told journalists Friday the jewelry had been confiscated from a 30-year-old Malaysian woman, identified only by her initials, WA, He said the suspect arrived at Sultan Hassanuddin International Airport in Makassar from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday evening on an Air Asia flight.

"WA did not declare the jewelry on the customs declaration form. She even passed the jewelry to someone else before she got to the immigration and customs counters" Teguh said.

WA tried to evade import tax by taking the jewelry out of her luggage before the customs and excise counter, he added.

The airport's customs and excise office head Syaharuddin added that the suspect had been waiting for her friend, Y, in the airport's waiting room.

He said he believed her accomplice, Y, who had two tickets to Jakarta, was planning to smuggle the jewelry to the capital.

"WA gave the bag containing the jewelry to Y. We then arrested both of them," Syaharuddin said.

The bag held various types of jewelry, such as necklaces, bracelets and earrings, as well as 503 gold coins.

He said if the suspect had brought the jewelry and gone through the immigration and customs and excise counters legally, she would have had to pay import tax of Rp 800 million.

"The suspect tried to evade the import tax by trying to smuggle it in," he said.

As of Friday, the suspects were still being questioned at the Customs and Excise Office in an attempt to get them to reveal the owner of the jewelry. The office believed the suspects were members of a smuggling syndicate.