'Confiscated planes not missing'

'Confiscated planes not missing'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The customs and excise directorate claimed on Monday that the
three smuggled microlight airplanes it had confiscated on Feb. 20
remained at its warehouse at the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta,
in an attempt to dispel rumors that they had gone "missing".

The Jakarta Post however, was denied access to see the German-
made airplanes at the warehouse in question.

"The airplanes are safe, you could just go there and see for
yourself if you don't believe me," the agency's director of
inspection and prevention, Nifsu Chasbullah, told The Post,
saying the Tanjung Priok warehouse was under the supervision of
the customs and excise service office II, which is better known
here by the acronym of KPBC II.

It was however a different matter altogether, actually trying
to gain access to the warehouse.

When The Post visited the service office, the officials were
unwilling to give permission to see the warehouse, saying the
facility was not their responsibility.

The head of KPBC II, Iswan Ramdana, who refused comment on the
whereabouts of the airplanes, urged The Post to go to one of his
subordinates, who, in turn, claimed that he was not responsible
for the warehouse, but pointed out another official who
apparently was.

"Check with the communications division. It's not our
responsibility.

"Anyway, if we knew about it we would not show the airplanes
nor the inventory list, those are classified. But I can assure
you that they are still at the warehouse," said a staff member at
the intelligence and inspection division.

Many suspect that the airplanes could have fallen into the
wrong hands following the directorate's first quarter performance
report which did not mention the airplanes or their seizure.

Ironically enough, the directorate's officials proudly showed
off the airplanes to reporters the day after they were
confiscated -- apparently to impress the public about its feat.

Nifsu said the directorate did not mention the airplanes in
the quarterly report, because the case was still under
investigation.

"We did not include the airplanes in the quarterly report,
because there was not yet any claim from any person nor
institution over them. We are still investigating the matter,"
said Nifsu.