Directorate General of Customs and Excise uncovers counterfeit excise stamp syndicate costing the state Rp570 billion

Semarang (ANTARA) - The Directorate General of Customs and Excise uncovered a syndicate of counterfeit excise stamp producers operating in the Semarang City and Jepara Regency areas, Central Java, estimated to have caused potential state financial losses of around Rp570 billion. “The network of illegal excise stamp makers has been operating for about 18 months,” said the Director General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance Djaka Budhi Utama in Semarang, on Wednesday. He said the disclosure carried out on 19 May 2026 was conducted at several locations in Jepara Regency and Semarang City. In Jepara, he said, officers found five locations for stockpiling and attaching holograms to the allegedly counterfeit excise stamps. Djaka Budhi revealed that in Semarang City, officers found the production process of the allegedly counterfeit excise stamps. He explained that in the Semarang disclosure, officers secured two stamp-offset printing machines, the printing plates for excise stamps, and a paper cutting machine. He said 19 people were detained and questioned about the alleged crime. “In Semarang, four people were secured, including one person who was the mastermind of the printing operation,” he said. He said the investigation is still ongoing to identify the brain behind the counterfeit excise stamp printing network. He added that the disclosure at several different locations was suspected to be a tactic to disrupt the network, making it harder to uncover. He emphasised that the crackdown by Bea Cukai was aimed at safeguarding state revenue, the business climate, and protecting the public from goods with illegal excise stamps.