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Govt announces crackdown on illegal cigarette trade
After a period of significant success in curbing the share of unlicensed cigarettes on the market, the coronavirus pandemic appears to have driven demand for contraband.
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After a period of significant success in curbing the share of unlicensed cigarettes in the market, the coronavirus pandemic appears to have driven demand for contraband. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he Customs and Excise Directorate General plans to bring down the share of unlicensed cigarettes following a surge in contraband during the coronavirus pandemic.
The government aimed to push the share of illegal cigarettes in the market below 3 percent from around 4.8 percent in 2020, said Customs and Excise Director General Askolani, citing a survey from Gadjah Mada University (UGM).
“[With the operation] we are conducting this month and next month, we hope we can reduce it to below 3 percent,” Askolani said during an online event on Thursday to announce the annual operation against illegal goods.
According to directorate general estimates, the distribution of illegal cigarettes had dropped to 3.03 percent in 2019, half of the distribution a year earlier, before a recent sharp increase.
This comes at a time when overall trade in illegal goods appears to be on the rise. The number of prosecutions over illegal goods exceeded 14,000 in the first seven months of the year, nearly two-thirds of the figure seen for the full year of 2020.
At Rp 12.5 trillion (US$866.19 million), the total value of the cases prosecuted in those seven months is nearly double the full-year 2020 figure.
This is comparable to the amount of illegal goods confiscated in 2018, which was estimated at Rp 11 trillion.
