'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.