Customs blames surveyor for textile smuggling

Customs blames surveyor for textile smuggling

JAKARTA (JP): The Directorate General of Customs and Excise
blames under weighing and under invoicing of shipments of
imported textiles and textile-related products worth more than
US$5,000 for rampant smuggling of those products.

The director for investigation and elimination of smuggling,
Thomas Sugiyata, said yesterday his office had seized four 40-
foot and two 20-foot containers of imported textiles and apparel
which had been under weighed.

"These six containers were equipped with surveyor reports
(LPS), thus they had been inspected at points of loading by PT
Surveyor Indonesia... However, after we reinspected them, we
found that there were discrepancies," Thomas told reporters at
Tanjung Priok's container terminal.

Thomas showed the six containers to reporters and executives
of the Indonesian Textile Association.

But he refused to name the importers of the six containers,
which were imported from South Korea and Taiwan last October.

Thomas said that a 40-foot container and a 20-foot container
of imported textiles, transported by the Wan Hai ship from
Taiwan, had been reported to weigh 9.5 tons, but customs revealed
they really weighed 33.9 tons.

"Thus, there were weight discrepancies of 24.3 tons," Thomas
said, adding that some of the apparel were secondhand.

Thomas did not talk about smuggled textiles in shipments
labeled as being $5000 or less, which are not required to be
inspected at points of loading.

Under the current preshipment inspection system, sea cargo
imports worth more than $5,000 must be inspected at points of
loading by the designated surveyor, state-owned PT Surveyor
Indonesia.

Customs is only allowed to inspect sea cargo imports worth up
to $5,000 and air cargo imports.

The textile association raised the issue of smuggled textiles
earlier this month in a report to President Soeharto.

One of the association's executives, Lily Asdjudirja, has
hinted that smuggled textiles entered Indonesia in shipments
valued less than $5,000.

His statement was supported by the chairman of the Indonesian
Importers Association, Amirudin Said, who said that most textile
imports came in shipments worth less than $5,000 to avoid
preshipment inspections.

Amirudin said yesterday that Thomas' statement was out of
proportion, and that he should disclose textile imports worth
less than $5,000 a shipment.

"If the customs office is really serious about eliminating
smuggling of textiles and other products, it should first of all
investigate all past imports worth less than $5,000.

"If it dares to do so, this will convince me that the customs
office is really serious in its efforts," Amirudin said.

The textile association's secretary-general, Benny Soetrisno,
said he would not discuss the value of shipments prone to
smuggling. The most important thing was that smuggling of
textiles must stop to save domestic producers.

"The level of textile smuggling has been alarming. You can
check for yourselves the smuggled products at Pasar Tanah Abang
or Mangga Dua," Benny said, referring to two of Jakarta's
wholesale centers for textiles.

Thomas said the director general of customs and excise had
instructed customs branches to inspect all imported textile
shipments worth $5,000 or less.

"Our concern is that imported textiles should not be cheaper
(than domestically produced textiles). Thus, the price must also
be checked using our list of prices as reference," Thomas said.

The customs office also plans to target imported textile
shipments with LPS documents, to anticipate possible under
weighing and under invoicing.

The customs office is exchanging information with the Ministry
of Industry and Trade to tackle smuggling. Customs is also
cooperating with the textile association. (rid)