Police Hunt Smugglers of Tens of Thousands of Illegal iPhones Worth Rp235 Billion

The Task Force for Law Enforcement on Smuggling Crimes (Satgas Gakkum Lundup) of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency has uncovered a large-scale illegal mobile phone import syndicate from China to Indonesia. In this bust, police seized tens of thousands of units of mobile phones from various brands valued at hundreds of billions of rupiah and named two individuals as suspects. Director of Special Economic Crimes (Dirtipideksus) of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, Brigadier General Ade Safri Simanjuntak, stated that this action is a direct instruction from the President of the Republic of Indonesia and the National Police Chief to eradicate state revenue leakages. The operation was conducted at six different locations spread across North Jakarta, West Jakarta, to East Java. The raids covered warehouses, shophouses, and offices doubling as storage for illegally imported goods. This time, the search was carried out at the office of PT Tepat Sukses Logistik (TSL) located in the Surya Inti Permata Juanda Shophouse Complex, Block B, Gedangan, Sidoarjo, East Java, on Tuesday (21/4). “Today, the joint investigation team from the Directorate of Special Economic Crimes of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, also involving the Directorate of Cyber Crimes of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, and the Pusden of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, as well as the Kortas Tipikor of the National Police, as a follow-up to the instructions from the National Police Chief, is carrying out forced search efforts at the TSL office in the Gedangan area, Sidoarjo at this time,” said Ade Safri in Sidoarjo. From the searches at various locations, officers seized tens of thousands of mobile phone units, ranging from iPhone brands to various Android phone brands, as well as tens of thousands of mobile phone spare parts. The estimated total value of the illicit goods is around Rp235 billion. “The first is the iPhone brand with 56,557 units with a total valuation of Rp225,208,000,000. Then the second is also seized Android HP of various brands totalling 1,625 units with a valuation or price of Rp5,387,500,000,” he said. “And the third is HP spare parts in the form of batteries, chargers, cables, and others totalling 18,574 pieces. So there are a total of 76,756 pieces with a total value of Rp235,089,800,000,” Ade Safri continued. In addition to seizing tens of thousands of handphones, the investigation team found thousands of other products in the form of baby clothes and children’s toys at the search locations. These products are known to lack Indonesian National Standard (SNI) labels. However, Ade Safri said, based on Ministry of Industry regulations, both types of goods are required to meet safety standards before being traded to the public. Nevertheless, Ade Safri said, these goods had already been freely sold through online shopping platforms despite not fulfilling the applicable administrative and safety requirements. “So besides the evidence seized by the investigation team, besides the evidence in the form of HP, the investigators also found other products in the form of baby clothes and children’s toys. These are subject to mandatory SNI under the Ministry of Industry Regulation. And it has been established by the investigators that the SNI for these baby clothing products has not been completed,” he said. Two Main Suspects In this case, based on the case review results, investigators have named two main suspects with initials DCP alias P and SJ. Both are deemed responsible for the entry of these illegal goods into Indonesia. Suspect DCP played a role in importing used goods without SNI, while SJ acted as the party distributing these goods. Ade mentioned that the modus operandi used by the suspects included practices such as under-invoicing, under-accounting, and undeclared to avoid customs obligations. The suspects, he said, used PT TSL as a holding company in Sidoarjo, East Java, to facilitate their actions by utilising several shell companies in Jakarta. “PT TSL is a holding company that uses several shell companies to handle import documentation for illegal handphones, among others,” he stated. “The Task Force for Law Enforcement against smuggling crimes that harm state assets will conduct developments and trace all parties responsible for this illegal import crime,” he added. In the investigation process, it was also revealed that thousands of units of illegal imported handphones from China entered Indonesian territory without valid documents through the air route at Juanda International Airport, Surabaya. “Regarding the illegal handphone evidence that entered through illegal imports from China, it entered through air cargo. So through Juanda Airport,” said Ade. For their actions, the two suspects now face layered charges ranging from trade crimes, industry, telecommunications, consumer protection, to money laundering. They are suspected of violating Article 106 and/or Article 111 in conjunction with Article 47 paragraph 1 and or Article 113 in conjunction with Article 57 paragraph 2 of Law No. 7 of 2014 on Trade, and or Article 120 of Law No. 3 of 2014 on Industry, and or Article 67 of Law No. 20 of 2014 on Standardization and Conformity Assessment. Then Article 52 in conjunction with Article 32 paragraph 1, Law No. 36 of 1999 on Telecommunications and or Article 62 in conjunction with Article 8 paragraph 1 Law No. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection and Article 607 paragraph 1 letters A and B of Law No. 1 of 2023 Criminal Code on money laundering crimes. Furthermore, Ade Safri emphasised the commitment of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency to thoroughly investigate this case from upstream to downstream, including tracing the involvement of other parties in the illegal supply chain. He did not rule out the possibility of additional suspects in this case. “We, the investigation team, are committed that the investigation of the handling of the aforesaid case will be carried out thoroughly.”