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View all search resultsBatam Customs impounds speedboat carrying 1.12 million illegal cigarettes
The contraband cigarettes, without excise stamps, are estimated to be worth Rp 1.66 billion (US$97.733), a potential state loss of Rp 835.5 million.
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Batam Customs and Excise Office stacks 115 cardboard boxes of cigarettes, consisting of 640,000 H-Mind cigarettes and 480,000 OFO Bold cigarettes, in front of an impounded speedboat at Tanjung Uncang pier in Batam city, Riau Islands, in this picture issued on March 16. The contraband cigarettes without excise stamps are estimated to be worth Rp 1.66 billion (US$97.733). (Courtesy of Batam Customs and Excise Office/-)
T
he Batam Customs and Excise Office impounded some 1.12 million cigarettes without excise stamps on Thursday, which were being smuggled onboard a speedboad that got stuck in a mangrove forest on Panjang Island, Batam city, Riau Islands.
The cigarettes were believed to be en route to be smuggled into customs areas on Sumatra Island.
Officers from Batam Customs’ sea patrol task force found the double-engined speedboat on Thursday at about 2 p.m., stuck among mangrove roots. When the patrol team approached the speedboat, there was no crew onboard. The crew are believed to have escaped after the speedboat ran aground.
Batam Customs Office head Agung Widodo said that his officers and local neighborhood unit (RT) officials found “115 cardboard boxes of cigarettes, consisting of 640,000 H-Mind cigarettes and 480,000 OFO Bold cigarettes.”
“The contraband cigarettes are estimated to be Rp 1.66 billion [US$97.733] in value,” Agung said on Monday.
“Meanwhile, the potential state loss from excise stamps is Rp 835.5 million.”
It took about two hours to untangle the speedboat from the mangrove roots before it could be towed to Batam Customs pier in Tanjung Uncang later in the afternoon. Customs officers are now investigating the origins of the cigarettes and the owner of the speedboat used in the smuggling attempt.
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