Police foil smuggling of 270 tons of sugar in Nias
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.