Kalimantan timber seized at port

Kalimantan timber seized at port

JAKARTA (JP): Owners of some 900-cubic meters of wooden
planks, an illegal shipment from Kalimantan seized by police at
Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta two days ago, were yet to
claim the material, an officer said on Sunday.

Chief of Jakarta Police detective Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo
said the different types of timber were being held at City Police
Headquarters on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

Alex said police were still tracing the whereabouts of the
owners.

Total value of the planks netted in the raid -- one of the
biggest seizures of such material in the past few years -- has
not been estimated.

The officer said the smuggling attempt was foiled early Friday
due to a tip-off from Kalimantan police, who notified Jakarta
that ships carrying timber without proper documents from
Kalimantan often unloaded the illegal materials at the Jakarta
port.

"On Thursday, we sent our detectives to wait at Tanjung Priok
port," Alex said.

On Friday morning, four small motorized vessels -- Sofa,
Marwa, Fajar Illahi and Murah Barokah -- docked at the port.

The police handcuffed crew from the vessels shortly after they
unloaded the wood.

"The crew were taking the planks from the ships to waiting
trucks," Alex said.

He said crew from all four vessels were released once police
were satisfied they could not provide information about ownership
of the materials.

"They're just ordered to transport, load and unload (the
goods)."

A senior captain, Salim, claimed to be illiterate and said he
did not know the Kalimantan documents he brought with him were
inadequate, Alex said.

He said the crew were told to ship the wood to a courier
company in Tanjung Priok, belonging to Fakhrudin alias Faruk.

Faruk was summoned for questioning on Sunday, but police said
no helpful information had been obtained in the interview.

"He first acknowledged that the wood was his, but later he
said he remembered the wood was ordered by timber businessman
Haji Ismail, a resident of Pondok Gede in East Jakarta."

He said the latter was scheduled for questioning on Monday.

City police detective of special crime units Lt. Col. Winarno
said wood illegally shipped from outside Java regularly entered
the capital.

He said although police were able to detect such crimes, they
had difficulty investigating the cases due to a lack of
coordination from the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations and
Tanjung Priok port officials.

"This time, we directly handled (the case), because no
measures were taken by the ministry and port officials prior to
our official notification," Winarno said.(emf)