Better detection needed for smuggling: Importers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent discovery of 19 containers filled with electronic goods and luxury cars in the West Java port of Cirebon has again shown the urgent need for a more effective inspection system with which to combat smuggling, according to importers.

On Thursday Amirudin Saud, chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association, said that the fact that the goods were not found until they reached Cirebon indicated how flawed the customs service's current inspection system really is.

Cirebon port officials reportedly grew suspicious when they received three different manifests for the containers, carried by the Panama-registered MV Sentosa Jaya, from Singapore and ordered by PT Tiang Grage.

After forcing the containers open, they reported the smuggled goods to local customs officials.

Inside, customs officials discovered a Jaguar, a Mercedes-Benz and a number of off-road vehicles worth a total of Rp 20.5 billion (about US$2 million).

"An effective monitoring system would allow customs officials to detect ... contraband or smuggled goods, so that these kinds of ships can be searched thoroughly, and immediately, upon arrival, " Amirudin added.

He noted that, under a system of pre-shipment import inspection, in place between 1985 and 1997, the surveyor always alerted Indonesian embassies, along with the Customs and Excise Duty Directorate General in Jakarta, to vessels found carrying contraband goods.

"This is ... one of the reasons importers have been so adamant in demanding that the old system be reintroduced, so as to minimize such smuggling" and the underpricing which results, he added.

He also wondered aloud about the fate of the written records of what he termed "high-risk" vessels previously found to contain smuggled goods -- records that were so "meticulously" maintained and updated throughout that period.

He added that the revelation of the smuggling attempt at Cirebon validated complaints of the Indonesian Electronics Association of unfair competition from contraband or underpriced goods coming from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Amirudin urged officials to destroy the goods to show that the Indonesian government is truly serious about combating smuggling.