Sugar smugglers operate unhindered: NGO
Sugar smugglers operate unhindered: NGO
Apriadi Gunawan, Medan
The North Sumatra People's Transparency Coalition has said that
an eight-member mafia is behind the large-scale smuggling of
sugar through the Tanjung Balai and Belawan ports.
The coalition, comprising eight non-governmental
organizations, said the mafia had been operating in North Sumatra
for a long time virtually undisturbed by the authorities.
Coalition coordinator Edi Rianto identified the eight alleged
members of this sugar smuggling mafia by their initials: AB, Ahk,
HS, BD, HU, EO and AT. He added that most of the sugar smugglers
were active in Tanjung Balai, about 250 kilometers southeast of
the provincial capital Medan.
They are involved in smuggling large amounts of sugar from
Malaysia and Thailand into the country, Edi said on Tuesday.
Edi said the group was aided by officials in the local customs
and excise offices, as well as port authorities.
"Our team recently observed hundreds of tons of illegally
imported sugar from Malaysia being transported at midnight by
some 100 trucks from Tanjung Balai heading toward Medan, Rantau
Prapat, Padang Sidempuan, Kisaran and Tebing Tinggi," he said.
He said the coalition had conducted a lengthy investigation
into sugar smuggling at the Tanjung Balai and Belawan ports.
The team was equipped with video cameras to record all of the
smuggling activities at the ports, Edi said.
"We have turned over all of our findings, including material
evidence, to the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta. We urge
the police immediately to follow up on this matter," he said.
Edi said he had received death threats from a suspected member
of the mafia while he was in Jakarta filing the report.
In response to complaints of smuggling at Belawan and Tanjung
Balai ports, local customs officials said they were doing
everything in their power to deal with the problem but the
smugglers were smart enough to evade the authorities.
The head of the prevention and investigation section at the
Belawan Customs Office, Cerah Bangun, said his office was
cooperating with the police to deal with the smugglers.
When asked to confirm the activities of an organized group of
sugar smugglers, North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Bambang
Prihady said the police had uncovered at least 53 cases of
illegally imported sugar since January this year.
It is unlikely that members of the mafia are not involved in
at least some of these cases being investigated by the police, he
said.
"We hope the investigations can lead to evidence of their
involvement. The police cannot arrest anybody without evidence,"
Bambang said.
He acknowledged that the incidence of smuggling had
dramatically increased in North Sumatra over the past several
years.
During an operation last year, the North Sumatra Police
arrested 16 suspects in 15 smuggling cases, he said.
Edi Rianto said his coalition appreciated what the police had
done so far in dealing with smuggling, but questioned why only
low-level criminals had been arrested.
The police should not operate on the principle of "catching
the minnows and letting the snappers go", he said.
"We ask the police not to discriminate in making arrests,
because in all the smuggling cases that they have handled none of
the masterminds have been arrested, only the drivers or ship crew
members," he said.