Police told to fight sugar smugglers
Police told to fight sugar smugglers
MEDAN, North Sumatra: North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin
asked police here on Thursday to crack down on what he called the
sugar smuggling mafia that had been operating in the province
over the last few months.
The rampant smuggling of sugar should be eradicated, otherwise
it could cause losses to the government in import duties and harm
domestic sugar production.
"I'm convinced that such illegal activities will cease as soon
as the police arrest the contraband mafia bosses," Rizal said.
The provincial legislative council backed the governor's call,
saying the local police and prosecutors should launch joint
operations against the sugar smugglers.
The mafia was believed to involve local officials.
The North Sumatra Police recently seized around 100 tons of
illegally imported sugar from India from a warehouse in the Medan
Sunggal area. Three trucks were also seized and two suspects
detained.
In addition, the police also seized 77 containers of sugar
illegally imported from Singapore.
North Sumatra Police detectives' chief Sr. Comr. Satria Hari
Prasetya said he had made a list of the suspected smugglers but
still lacked sufficient evidence to make arrests. --JP
Ex-senior officials jailed for graft
SURABAYA: Former Surabaya legislative council speaker Mochamad
Basuki and former city secretary Muhammad Yasin have been jailed
for corruption.
The Surabaya District Court found Basuki guilty of abuse of
power, causing losses of Rp 2.7 billion (US$329,268) to the
state, when he was speaker of the council, Antara reported on
Thursday.
He was jailed for 18 months, fined Rp 20 million and ordered
to repay Rp 200 million to the state. Prosecutors had demanded a
two-year-jail term for Basuki.
Judge Miswari Ismijati said the defendant was not guilty of
the main charge of having enriched himself.
Prosecutors and Basuki's lawyers are both considering filing
appeals.
In a separate trial, the court sentenced Yasin to nine months
in jail for his involvement in the same case. He was ordered to
return Rp 25 million to the state. --JP