Bareskrim Polri Uncovers Illegal Tin Management on Belitung Island
Pangkalpinang — Indonesia’s National Police Directorate of Special Crimes (Dittipidter) under Bareskrim Polri, working with the Bangka Belitung Islands Regional Police, has uncovered illegal tin sand processing on Belitung Island to combat illegal tin management that damages the state’s interests.
“This location is an illegal tin processing facility from which tin would have been smuggled to Malaysia,” stated Brigadier General Irhamni, head of Dittipidter Bareskrim Polri, in a press statement received by the Bangka Belitung National News Agency in Pangkalpinang on Sunday.
He explained that Dittipidter Bareskrim Polri and the Bangka Belitung Islands Regional Police conducted raids on illegal tin sand processing at three locations across East Belitung and Belitung regencies on Saturday, 28 February.
The first crime scene was a tin sand purification facility or tin processing site (shaking table) in Mayang Village, Kelapa Kampit District, East Belitung Regency. At the second location, a warehouse and shop for storing illegal tin sand also in Kelapa Kampit District, investigators seized evidence including scales, tin sand, and tin sand purchase records, establishing a police cordon at the site.
The third location was Pulau Seliu Beach, Membalong District, Belitung Regency, identified as the departure point for illegal tin sand shipments. The raid successfully secured two suspects, identified by initials A and M.
“This raid is a follow-up development to a case uncovered by Bareskrim Polri working with Customs in Batam, Riau Islands,” he stated.
In the Batam smuggling case, officers arrested five crew members and seized a vessel containing 16 tonnes of tin sand destined for Malaysia.
“Our purpose in coming here is to develop the case of smuggling and illegal mining offences. This location is the processing facility involved in the smuggling we arrested earlier in coordination with Batam Customs colleagues,” he explained.
He added that the Dittipidter team moved swiftly to the crime scenes in Belitung and East Belitung, where they discovered shaking tables used to purify tin ore—the source material for the Malaysia smuggling operation.
“These perpetrators smuggled tin sand to Malaysia illegally on four occasions, sending it to smelters in Malaysia, as confirmed by the suspects’ statements during the investigation,” he concluded.