Cigarette smuggling attempt foiled

Cigarette smuggling attempt foiled

SURABAYA: Customs officials at Tanjung Perak port here foiled
an attempt on Tuesday to smuggle American brand Marlboro
cigarettes into Indonesia.

The move meant that a potential loss of Rp 1.7 billion
(US$200,000) to the state was prevented, said local customs and
excise office head Heryanto Budi Santoso.

He said the confiscated, illegally imported cigarettes
amounted to a container load comprising 920 cartons.

The cigarettes had been shipped from China via Singapore
before arriving at Surabaya, East Java.

"We seized them after discovering that the packing tapes of
the cigarette were fake," he said.

Budi said customs officials used ultraviolet light to
determine that the tapes were false.

"We were also suspicious when we found the labels said the
cigarette were produced by a Marlboro company in Malang ... They
came from China, so how could they have been produced in Malang?"
he said.

The seized cigarettes are currently being held in the port
container terminal as evidence in an investigation, Budi added.
--JP