House wants court on sand smuggling

JAKARTA: The House of Representatives' team on sand smuggling urged the government on Saturday to take measures to stop sand smuggling by establishing an ad hoc court to try sand smugglers.

The team also promised to draft a bill on the exploitation of sea sand.

Afni Achmad, the team chairman, said that the establishment of an ad hoc court was necessary to expedite the legal process against sand smugglers.

He complained about the slow legal processing of those responsible for the 13 foreign ships detained by the Indonesian navy for sand smuggling.

If no legal proceedings were taken, he said, the owners of the ships would possibly resort to bribery to have the ships released. -- Antara