Police seize two tons of smuggled garlic

JAKARTA (JP): Police announced yesterday that they have arrested ten women for smuggling two tons of garlic through the Tanjung Priok port, but released them later for undisclosed reasons.

"We have freed the suspects after questioning them intensively," Lt. Col. Latief Rabar, spokesman for the city police.

The ten inang-inang (local slang for gutsy woman traders from North Sumatra), identified only by their initials, were said to have departed from Tanjung Pinang in the Riau province on July 16 aboard the Umsini carrier for Tanjung Priok, Jakarta.

Anonymous persons who claimed to have followed the ten women contacted the Tanjung Pinang police, who then relayed the tip-off to the Tanjung Priok police.

The women reportedly bought the garlic from a third party who was believed to have smuggled the produce from Singapore.

In their efforts to avoid inspection by customs the women packed the garlic in 45 bags. Each woman carried between four and five bags. With such a ploy the suspects believed they could pass through the security check at the Tanjung Priok port.

The Tanjung Priok police, who had already received the tip- off, thoroughly searched the baggage of all passengers when the ship anchored at around 4 p.m. on Monday.

Police found the garlic in the ten bags owned by the women.

Based on the findings, police detained the women for questioning on charges of smuggling. The allegations were flatly denied by the inang-inang. They insisted they had legally bought the garlic from the Tanjung Pinang marketplace.

Police were however convinced that the garlic was not from the market, but smuggled from abroad instead, since the goods were not covered by the required documents.

The importation of garlic here is monopolized by two firms, PT Sarana Hidup Sejahtera and PT Cempaka Putih.

"Their guilt is that they did not import the produce via the association, which is acknowledged by the government," Latief added. (jsk)