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War against illegal cigarettes continues in Java
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T
he Customs and Excise Directorate General has won several battles in its fight against the distribution of illegal cigarettes and alcohol so far this year, with its most recent victories taking place in Pasuruan in East Java, Tegal in Central Java and the Yogyakarta area.
“This is one of the functions of the customs office as a protector of the community. In addition, the Customs and Excise Directorate is trying to maintain justice in business by ensuring that all cigarettes and alcohol products sold on the market are legal," said the subdirectorate head of public relations and customs counseling, Hatta Wardhana, who also acknowledged the community’s contribution to the three areas’ success.
Throughout the first half of the year, the customs and excise agency in Pasuruan conducted 71 raids and secured 6 million cigarettes and 210 bottles of illegal alcohol of various brands. The total value of the goods is estimated to reach Rp 7.5 billion (US$500,919), with potential losses to the state calculated at Rp 5.1 billion.
Meanwhile, customs and excise officials in Central Java and Yogyakarta successfully prevented efforts to send illegal cigarettes into the Java-Sumatra distribution channel. They seized 1.3 million illegal cigarettes without excise tape attached with an estimated value of Rp 1.5 billion, preventing potential state losses in the form of excise duty, value-added tax (VAT) on tobacco products and cigarette tax totaling Rp 1 billion.
A raid befitting an action movie was carried out at the Muktiharjo toll gate in Semarang, Central Java, on Friday, during which officers secured 82 cartons of machine-made kretek (clove) cigarettes totaling 1.3 million cigarettes without excise stamps attached. The truck and its drivers, with the initials MA and AS, were then taken to the Central Java Customs and Excise Office for further inspection.
Until the end of June, the Central Java Customs and Excise Office has been able to secure 33.6 million illegal cigarettes with a value of goods reaching Rp 37.45 billion and the potential loss to the state reaching Rp 25.5 billion.
After receiving a tip from the public, the customs and excise officials of Tegal actively anticipated the delivery of illegal cigarettes in a warehouse of the goods sorting center belonging to a shipping company.
They arrived at the warehouse, accompanied by representatives of the operational and warehouse division of the shipping company, to inspect packages suspected of containing illegal cigarettes on Friday. They found dozens of packages without the required excise tape, which contained nearly 289,000 cigarettes with a total estimated value of Rp 330 million. With this seizure, the Tegal Customs and Excise Office succeeded in securing state revenues of up to Rp 221 million.
"We will continue to monitor and take firm action against the circulation of illegal cigarettes because apart from harming state finances, it also affects the health and welfare of the community. We urge the public who are aware of the potential distribution of illegal cigarettes not to hesitate to report the information to the nearest customs office, call center 1500225 or other law enforcement agencies," Hatta said.
