Police foil smuggling of 270 tons of sugar in Nias

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Police here said on Wednesday that they had foiled an attempt to smuggle around 270 tons of sugar allegedly from Myanmar to Gunung Sitoli, Nias regency, North Sumatra province, in a coordinated raid.

They also arrested a local businessman suspected of brokering the shipment, identified only as Ahu, and 10 crew members of a boat used in the attempted smuggling, including the 24-year-old captain, Riswal, a resident of the neighboring regency of Tanjung Balai.

The detainees are all being questioned intensively at the Nias Police station.

"We are currently developing the investigation. It is clear that the suspects violated Article 102 of Law No. 10/1995 on customs," criminal detective chief of the North Sumatra Police Sr. Comr. Satria Hari Prasetya told The Jakarta Post here.

He said the smuggled sugar was shipped from Klang Port, Malaysia, and arrived at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night at Gunung Sitoli, the capital of Nias.

The smugglers were caught amid intensive raids launched by police to crack down on the rampant smuggling across North Sumatra.

Satria said the smugglers seemed to know about the police's Octopus Operation that specifically targeted small seaports run by private companies.

"That's why the smugglers have been trying to find new locations in North Sumatra to ship in their illegal commodities from abroad," he said.

He said that Tuesday's smuggling of sugar to Gunung Sitoli was the first such case uncovered by the police, as smugglers usually used ports in Belawan and Tanjung Balai as safer places to unload their illegal goods.

"It appears that the smugglers were trying to find new alternative locations to bring in their smuggled goods through here," he said.

It was not clear whether the smuggling involved security personnel, who have widely been accused of backing and protecting such operations.

Some officials and residents said smuggling continued in a seemingly unchecked manner through at least 15 small seaports in the province, despite the presence of security forces.

"Usually, goods smuggled to and from abroad are loaded and unloaded at small seaports throughout the night," said Syaiful Ganda, a fisherman from Tanjung Balai.

"There are always security people around when the smuggled goods are loaded and unloaded," he added.

Some of these ports are located between larger ports in Tanjung Balai and Bagan Asahan, while others are found in Nibung Bay and Es Dengki.

On Sept. 5, 2003, police foiled an attempt to smuggle around 100 tons of plastic products from neighboring Malaysia to Tanjung Balai. The shipment, allegedly belonging to a businessman from Medan, was reportedly unloaded at 9:25 p.m.

Syaiful and other fishermen said such illegal practices have been occurring for a long time in and out of the small ports.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Adityawarman, chief of security at Belawan port in Medan, did not specifically deny the widespread accusations that certain officers were involved in the smuggling.

Officials of local excise and customs offices were mostly to blame, because they were the front line in dealing with marine smuggling cases, he said.

He confirmed that smugglers had been operating mostly along North Sumatra's east coast, ranging from Belawan, Asahan and Tanjung Balai to Labuhan Batu.