Bonded areas reportedly used by smugglers<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Directorate General of Customs said on Friday that it had
\ndeployed its officials to closely supervise bonded warehouse
\nfacilities in the wake of reports that they were often being used
\nby smugglers to stockpile illicit goods.<\/p>\n
Sofyan Permana, customs director for inspection and
\ninvestigation, told The Jakarta Post that the directorate had
\nfound indication that several businessmen had misused the
\nfacilities to smuggle goods into the country.<\/p>\n
\"The practices have been out of control since early the first
\nof the year. We have discovered dozens of bonded warehouses in
\nJakarta and Surabaya, belonging to private businesspeople, that
\nhave been used to stockpile smuggled goods,\" said Sofyan.<\/p>\n
He explained that the owners of the warehouses and the others
\nwho rent them were cooperating to allow such practices to occur.<\/p>\n
\"There are several big companies involved in such practices.
\nBut I cannot name them right now, because we are still
\ninvestigating them ... Thus far, no suspects have been processed
\nover the violation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
By law, all goods in a bonded warehouse are exempted from
\ntaxes, import duties and excise as long as they are intended for
\nre-export in the form of value-added goods, or to be transferred
\nas raw materials to bonded zone areas.<\/p>\n
Smugglers imported the goods based on normal customs
\nprocedures, but once the goods arrived at the bonded warehouse,
\nthey illegally sneak them out, or make a fake document stating
\nthat the goods are to be processed for export in some other
\nplace.<\/p>\n
The smuggled goods are usually include sugar, rice,
\npharmaceutical products and toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n
The smugglers manage to illegally get the goods out of the
\nbonded zone by colluding with corrupt customs officials.<\/p>\n
Director-General of Customs and Excise Eddy Abdurrachman has
\nsent around a memo on May 27 stating that all senior customs
\nofficials must closely supervise their people punish those who
\ncolluded with smugglers in misusing the facilities.<\/p>\n
Eddy also urged them not to tolerate the violations, and to
\nrevoke the licenses of the bonded warehouse operators involved in
\nthe crime.<\/p>\n
As previously reported, the inflow of smuggled goods to the
\ncountry has surged during the first quarter of this year through
\nvarious means, according to an internal report from the customs
\ndirectorate.<\/p>\n
While the report did not provide a clear explanation of the
\nreasons for the increase, analysts and business players believed
\nthat it was due to weaker law enforcement during that period as
\nmany were focussing on the general election.<\/p>\n
For example, the report said that customs officials had
\nmanaged to confiscate some 1,814 metric tons of smuggled rice and
\n5,743 tons of sugar during the first quarter of the year, up from
\n374 metric tons and 5,675 tons respectively in the same period of
\nlast year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bonded-areas-reportedly-used-by-smugglers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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