Indonesian Navy expands drills to curb tin smuggling
Rear Admiral Yayan Sofiyan, the navy’s assistant chief of naval staff for operations, said the drills show concrete support for the president’s directive to strengthen maritime law enforcement across Indonesian waters.
Recently, the Indonesian Navy conducted anti-access and anti-area denial exercises, Yayan said on Sunday during the departure ceremony for a free Eid homecoming voyage aboard KRI Semarang-594 in North Jakarta.
He said anti-access operations are traditionally designed to disrupt an adversary’s logistical routes during conflict, but the concept can also be adapted in peacetime to block distribution networks used for illegal maritime activities.
In peaceful conditions, he said, the same approach can cut access for networks moving strategic materials out of Indonesia’s waters for smuggling to foreign markets and illegal traders abroad, he added.
Yayan said the Bangka Belitung Islands have become a focus area because they hold strategic natural resources, particularly tin, a commodity with high economic value and long associated with smuggling risks.
To secure the area, the navy has deployed dozens of warships to conduct patrols and interception operations aimed at preventing illegal shipments of the mineral and other protected resources there.
Between 2025 and 2026, at least 28 Indonesian naval vessels carried out interception missions in Bangka Belitung waters as part of the intensified maritime security campaign there, he said.
Those operations prevented about 448 tonnes of tin from being smuggled abroad, with the seized material estimated to have an economic value of around 146 billion rupiah, Yayan added.
Law enforcement operations in the region, he said, would continue as part of broader efforts to safeguard Indonesia’s strategic natural resources and prevent their illegal exploitation or export overseas networks.
Alongside patrols, the navy regularly conducts maritime operational exercises to improve readiness of personnel and warships in responding to potential security threats across Indonesia’s territorial waters and surrounding sea lanes.
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Translator: Devi NSR, Rahmad Nasution