14 arrested over fake excise stickers<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Police arrested 14 people allegedly involved in a
\nsyndicate counterfeiting cigarette excise stickers that in seven
\nyears caused trillions of rupiah in state losses.<\/p>\n
\"The operation was jointly conducted with the Directorate
\nGeneral for Customs and Excise. We arrested the key suspect in
\nthe syndicate, AM, in Lasem, Central Java, last night,\" city
\npolice chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Police seized from alleged syndicate members about seven tons
\nof evidence, mostly counterfeit excise stickers from two printing
\ncompanies in Cikarang, Bekasi regency, and Pondok Kelapa, East
\nJakarta. Both printing companies belong to the key suspect,
\nidentified only as AM.<\/p>\n
Police also arrested 12 employees of the printing companies,
\nmost of them involved in gluing holograms on the stickers.<\/p>\n
\"We have calculated that the seized stickers would have caused
\nRp 20 billion in state losses. The syndicate members claim they
\nhave operated for seven years,\" Makbul said.<\/p>\n
Director General for Customs and Excise Eddy Abdurrahman said
\nthe buyers of the counterfeit stickers were mostly small to
\nmedium-sized clove cigarette companies in East Java.<\/p>\n
\"The stickers were printed with excise percentages of 4
\npercent, 8 percent and 26 percent. The percentages show that the
\nstickers were to be attached to cigarette packages produced by
\nsmall and medium-sized companies,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Large cigarette companies have to pay an excise tax of up to
\n40 percent of the price of their cigarette packs.<\/p>\n
\"We suspect a lot of clove cigarette brands have been using
\nthese stickers,\" Eddy said. \"But none of them were big brands.\"<\/p>\n
In addition to the 14 alleged members of the syndicate, police
\nalso arrested three suspects identified only as HD, WIJ and MUJ,
\nwho own cigarette companies in Malang, East Java. The three
\ncompanies are believed to have been long-time users of the
\ncounterfeit stickers.<\/p>\n
By using counterfeit stickers, the companies would be able to
\navoid paying excise taxes.<\/p>\n
Excise taxes from the cigarette industry is one of the main
\nsources of money for the state budget. This year's excise target
\nfor the state budget is Rp 27.7 trillion.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/14-arrested-over-fake-excise-stickers-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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