Smuggling attempt of Rp 2.68 billion cash foiled
Smuggling attempt of Rp 2.68 billion cash foiled
JAKARTA (JP): Customs and excise officials at Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport have foiled an attempt to smuggle Rp 2.68
billion (US$326,830) in cash.
Tonny Soenanto, head of the Customs and Excise Office, said on
Saturday that the money, in Rp 50,000 banknotes, was seized from
Edward Mondong, a 30-year-old Indonesian, who was about to board
a KLM flight to Singapore on Friday evening.
The cash, he said, was bundled into different amounts in two
suitcases, weighing 100 kilograms altogether.
"The man had no permit to carry such an amount of money
overseas. If proven guilty, he could be fined up to Rp 1 billion
under existing regulations," Tonny said.
According to Government Regulation No. 18/1998, a written
permit from Bank Indonesia, the central bank, is required for any
Indonesian national who plans to carry more than Rp 5 million in
cash abroad, he said.
Based on a preliminary investigation, Edward, a resident of
Jl. Kayumanis, Matraman, East Jakarta, said the money belonged to
a businessman who wanted to use it to pay his debts to his
business partner in Singapore.
But the customs and excise officials did not believe Edward.
Tonny suspected that Edward might have other motives, such as
attempting to convert the rupiah into other currencies, like the
greenback.
"If he really planned to pay off a debt, why would he have had
to do it in cash?" Tonny said.
The suspect is still under intensive questioning by the
airport authorities. The KLM plane, flight number KL-838, was
heading to Amsterdam with a stopover in Singapore.
Tonny said Edward was first spotted as he arrived at Terminal
E of the airport with two big suitcases. He was driven in a
luxury car, he said.
He and the two bags first "passed" the X-ray detector at the
entrance gate of the terminal. Customs and excise officials later
asked him to open the suitcases at the check-in counter.
"Our X-ray detected bundles of paper inside his suitcases
which were the same size as banknotes," Tonny said. (ylt)