Indonesian National Police names two new suspects in illegal phone import case

Indonesian National Police’s Special Economic Crime Directorate (Dittipideksus) Counter-Smuggling Task Force (Satgas Gakkum) has named two new suspects in a case involving alleged illegal importation of phones and other products from China.

Brigadier General Ade Safri Simanjuntak of Dittipideksus Bareskrim Polri stated on Friday in Jakarta that the suspects are TW, director of PT TSI, and MT, director of PT TSL.

“The designation of TW and MT as suspects is based on investigation findings supported by five pieces of evidence, including witness statements, expert testimony, documents, physical evidence, and electronic records,” he said.

Both suspects face charges under Article 111 in conjunction with Article 47(1) of Law No. 7 of 2014 on Trade, and Article 20 and/or Article 21(1) of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code.

For investigative purposes, he added, the task force has coordinated with the Directorate General of Immigration to prevent the suspects from leaving the country.

He further confirmed that the task force is conducting intensive and coordinated investigative activities to uncover all parties involved in the illegal importation.

“Currently, the investigative team is still developing leads on the distribution network, import routes, and tracing other parties suspected of involvement in the smuggling offence,” he said.

Previously, the Satgas Gakkum had named two suspects in this case: DCP and SJ.

DCP, also known as P, acted as an importer bringing in used goods without Indonesian National Standards (SNI) certification.

SJ, meanwhile, was a customer involved in importing and distributing such goods.

The suspect designations follow previous raids on PT TSL’s office in Sidoarjo, East Java, and a warehouse in Jakarta containing thousands of illegal phones.

Ade noted that PT TSL is a holding company using shell companies to handle illegal import documentation.