Police to launch probe into car smuggling

Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Police vowed on Friday to extend its investigation into a nation-wide ring of luxury car smuggling following a case which allegedly involved one of its senior officers.

"We are serious in dealing with car smuggling," National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said after Friday prayers in Jakarta.

"We will look into the case thoroughly to see whether administrative flaws or abuse of power have been involved in the smuggling. A team of investigators led by the inspector general is handling the case."

Da'i was commenting on irregularities in the issuance of temporary vehicle ownership documents for 11 Mercedes Benz cars reportedly smuggled from Singapore by Comr. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb at the end and after his term as South Sulawesi Police chief last year.

The National Police has set up a team of investigators headed by Inspector General Comr. Gen. Ahwil Luthan, which is slated to question Sofjan on Wednesday.

Speculation has been rife that the probe into Sofjan has much to do with his legal dispute with Da'i over mandatory retirement age.

Da'i also said on Friday he would check into rumors of the alleged involvement of a family member of West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Sudirman Ail in the car smuggling ring. Ail was former National Police deputy chief of detectives.

Like Sofjan and Ail, each provincial police chief is allowed to issue temporary vehicle documents, which are effective for up to three months, for security reasons. Da'i said he did not remember whether he had ever exercised this power when he headed the East Java Police chief a few years ago.

Separately, National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said the police were intensifying their investigation into two luxury car suppliers, believed to have been smuggling cars for years and supplying them to senior police officials.

While Edward would not identify the alleged smugglers, sources at National Police Headquarters said the men had been running the racket since the mid-1980s, and had supplied cars, ranging from BMWs to Mercedes Benzes, to scores of police officials including generals. The police sources referred to the alleged smugglers as AH and Chan.

Rumors have it that the Toyota Crown used by Da'i was one of the luxury cars smuggled into Indonesia via diplomatic lines by AH.

But Aritonang flatly denied this. "The car was purchased using the state budget, and we bought it from a colleague. Everything was legal here," Aritonang told reporters.

Should a car be brought into the country for a foreign embassy via diplomatic lines, then with official permission from Customs and Excise it is exempted from import duty.

National Police sources have agreed that this method has often been used by smugglers to bring in cars from overseas, but none of the sources wanted to comment on whether Chan or AH used diplomatic lines to smuggle the cars into the country.

The sources stated that one of Sofjan's personal luxury car suppliers, Chan, had maintained a close relationship with Sofjan since he was chief of the Simalungun police precinct in North Sumatra.

"Chan owns several car showrooms as well as at least one discotheque. Sofjan really cared for this man ... when Chan asked him to carry out raids on rival discotheques, Sofjan would order the raids," one of the sources said.

The South Sulawesi provincial legislative council is also due to summon Sofjan for clarification over the irregularities.