30 firearms, 13 pistols seized in six months

TANGERANG (JP): The Directorate General of Customs and Excise revealed on Wednesday they had foiled the smuggling of a number of firearms, explosives, sex toys, uncensored Video Compact Discs (VCDs) and Chinese traditional medicine for various illnesses into the country through Soekarno-Hatta airport over the past six months.

Director General of Customs and Excise Permana Agung said that authorities managed to foil the smuggling attempts with the help of X-ray scanner observation and officers' screening of passengers arriving at the airport.

He said that between January and June, his officers had confiscated a total of 30 firearms, three spear guns, 13 game/lighter pistols and 30 kilograms of explosives, which were all mostly imported from the United States.

Referring to Law No. 8/1948 on firearms and Law No. 12/1951 on states of emergency, Permana said those importing firearms or explosive devices into the country must obtain a permit from the National Police chief.

"In eight cases within the six months, our officers also managed to seize 6,000 uncensored pornographic VCDs and six sex dolls," he told reporters at his office at Soekarno-Hatta airport.

The products were mostly from Europe, the U.S., Japan and China.

According to Permana, most passengers usually hid the smuggled articles in their luggage, hand bags or through a shipment.

"Importing uncensored VCDs without a permit from the Film Censor Body (LSF) violates Law No. 8/1992, while bringing in sex toys also violates Article 282 of the Criminal Code on pornography," he said.

He said in a single case within the period, his officers also seized various kinds of medicine smuggled from China through the airport. Ministry of Health Regulation No. 917/1993 requires all medicines to be registered with the ministry before they are sold to the market.

Permana said none of smugglers had been detained.

"Even though there is no detention, we have handed over the cases to police," he said.

He said that what matters more is that the authorities were able to curb the danger and prevent those products from reaching the market.

Meanwhile, chief of the airport police station Insp. Suari Wahyudi told The Jakarta Post that all of the confiscated firearms and explosives would be handed over to the city police while the medicines, VCDs and sex toys would be destroyed.

She said the police could not arrest firearms smugglers as long as they were still in the airport, which is recognized as a green site, an area where carrying firearms is allowed as international law applies there.

"If they are found carrying firearms in public places, of course I will immediately arrest them," she said.

Head of Soekarno-Hatta Airport Customs and Excise Jusuf Indarto declined to comment when the Post asked him the total value of the seized illegal products.

"Let's not talk about the amount of money; we should think about the dangerous impact if these things are obtained illegally," he said.(01)