Customs seizes 249 million illegal cigarettes in January 2026

Jakarta (ANTARA) — The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) under the Ministry of Finance reported having seized 249 million illegal cigarettes in January 2026.

The figure surged 295.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

“In January 2025, only around 63 million were acted upon and seized. In January 2026, this increased to 249 million illegal cigarettes captured by Customs and Excise,” said Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara during the APBN KiTa press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

In terms of enforcement, the DJBC carried out 1,243 actions against illegal cigarettes, up 53.8 per cent year-on-year. The increase was partly driven by the uncovering of an illegal cigarette warehouse in Pekanbaru.

“One of the reasons is the seizure of an illegal cigarette warehouse in Pekanbaru, where Customs and Excise worked together with other law enforcement agencies to locate the warehouse and carry out a very significant enforcement operation there,” the deputy minister said.

According to Suahasil, the action demonstrated the strengthening of synergy between the DJBC and other law enforcement agencies, which will continue to be enhanced going forward.

Beyond illegal cigarette enforcement, the DJBC also recorded 95 narcotics enforcement actions up to January 2026, down 2.1 per cent compared to the previous year. Although the frequency of enforcement slightly declined, the total evidence seized reached 0.21 tonnes, up 111.7 per cent year-on-year.

“The new Customs and Excise team inaugurated by the Minister (Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa) continues to optimise customs and excise oversight, and we hope this will continue going forward so that we become ever better in both supervision and state revenue collection,” he added.