I

was the captain of Garuda Indonesia flight 728 (Denpasar-Perth, Australia). Upon arriving at the quarantine checkpoint on Aug. 26, at approximately 1 a.m., the female officer asked if I had anything to declare.

At that point, I realized that I had two bananas and a pear in my flight bag and I immediately apologized for not declaring them.

As she opened the bag she discovered the fruit that I’ve mentioned and also one additional piece of fruit; a salak (snake fruit).

The officer said that I should know better being a captain and she fined me A$220, which was the maximum penalty.

I told her that I didn’t have enough cash on me so I took out my cell phone to contact Garuda ground staff on duty who I could see in the distance watching us.

The officer immediately yelled at me saying “I am going to fine you a thousand dollars if you use your cell phone!”

I became very upset knowing she was harassing me with no solution and another quarantine officer came to investigate the commotion. I asked this officer, Stacey Davies, to show me the proof of the ruling regarding a $1,000 fine that her fellow officer was going to impose on me if I used my cell phone.

Her response to me was “end of conversation”.

Finally Customs and Border Officer James came to see the situation, I explained to him the situation and Officer James questioned Davies regarding the $1,000 fine. The first officer whom I dealt with answered James’ question by saying “perhaps”.

I became really irritated knowing there was no such fine and I called her a liar, Officer James called Garuda staff member Kelly to assist me, later she reported that Davies had tried to bar her from assisting me. Kelly paid the $220 fine and asked to see the supervisor and Davies said that she was the supervisor and if I had complaints, I needed to contact Canberra.

After approximately two hours I was able to leave the airport, upon arriving at Indonesia, I discovered the form for the quarantine had no signature, date or the officer’s name.

I have relayed this issue to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, and I hope this type of harassment will not happen in the future.

Frans Santo
Jakarta