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Customs and Excise Agency wages war against illegal cigarettes and alcohol
One crimes common in Indonesia is the sales of illegal cigarettes and alcohol.
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O
ne crimes common in Indonesia is the sales of illegal cigarettes and alcohol. The country’s Customs and Excise Agency is not only trying to suppress the circulation of illegal cigarettes, but also to secure state rights from the excise revenue sector.
"By taking regular action, customs and excise seeks to create a deterrent effect for unscrupulous dealers of cigarettes and illegal alcohol. Moreover, customs and excise also ensures that the cigarettes on the market are cigarettes that have paid excise duty, so that security is also carried out on state revenue instruments," said Hatta Wardhana, head of the Sub-Directorate of Public Relations and Counseling.
In Sidoarjo, actions against the selling of illegal cigarettes were carried out by customs and excise in collaboration with East Java Police. The synergy between the two led to the successful seizure of 160,000 illegal cigarettes, amounting to Rp 182.4 million (US$12,524) in total.
The Customs and Excise Offices in Central Java and Yogyakarta held a press conference to announce the result of the action taken by the customs and excise supervision unit in the Central Java region. As many as 2.4 million cigarettes and 472.22 liters of alcohol was seized in activities carried out from Jan. 1 until May 22. The value of the goods is estimated at Rp 2.81 billion with the potential loss to the state that was saved reaching Rp 1.86 billion.
"The massive action taken by customs and excise is a clear warning that increasing the production and circulation of illegal excisable goods needs serious attention and the collaboration of law enforcement officers is needed to eradicate it," said Hatta.
The production of illegal excisable goods has the ability to threaten state revenues and distorts government policies in controlling the consumption of excisable goods if not treated seriously and properly. Hence, the customs and excise agency will continue to eradicate the circulation of illegal excisable goods by collaborating with law enforcement officers such as the Indonesian Military, National Police, the Attorney General's Office, regional government, the Public Order Agency and other relevant agencies.
The Customs and Excise Office in Tegal, in collaboration with the Central Java Regional Police successfully halted a vehicle loaded with illegal cigarettes on Saturday (21/05/2022), as they managed to secure 222,400 illegal cigarettes. Evidence in the form of a passenger car, along with the cigarettes itself and the driver were secured to the Tegal Customs Office for further investigation.
