Jakarta – Cabinet ministers from the Merah Putih coalition, represented by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Budi Gunawan (BG) and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, held a press conference on recent anti-smuggling efforts in customs and excise to support the “Asta Cita” program initiated by President Prabowo Subianto. The event took place at the Customs and Excise Office in Jakarta on Thursday, November 14.

BG announced that seven specialized desks established under this initiative had begun operating in line with President Prabowo’s directives. Among them, one desk is focused specifically on protecting state revenue and improving governance.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani highlighted that so far, enforcement efforts have targeted a range of products, including garments, textiles, electronics, cigarettes, alcohol, and narcotics.

In addition to drugs and alcohol, officials seized an illegal Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine and a unit of an illicit electric motorcycle during the operations conducted over the past week.

“This demonstrates the government’s commitment,” said Sri Mulyani, “with the support and coordinated efforts of all ministries and agencies, which are now working together in synergy.”

She added that the government’s collaborative stance on fighting smuggling aims to create a healthy economic environment and ensure fairness for all domestic industry players.

In a single week, from November 4 to 11, 2024, inter-ministerial efforts led to 283 smuggling interceptions.

“Within this one-week period, we saw 283 anti-smuggling operations, primarily targeting commodities such as garments, textiles, electronic equipment, cigarettes, alcohol, and narcotics, with an estimated value of IDR 49 billion. The potential loss to the state stands at IDR 10.3 billion, which is still under investigation,” explained Sri Mulyani.

She further reported on monitoring and enforcement actions carried out in customs and excise since October 2024. Among the cases were 3,301 liters of methyl alcohol from 11 enforcement actions in the Jakarta region.

“The operational tactic was to affix counterfeit excise stamps,” she stated.

“This type of operation poses a potential state loss of IDR 3.7 billion. In terms of narcotics, our results stem from collaboration with the police and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), so customs was not acting alone,” added Sri Mulyani.

Further enforcement actions included seizing 67 kilograms of methamphetamine across five cases in Aceh, Dumai, Bogor, Lampung, Jakarta, and Banten. Narcotics were smuggled primarily through sea routes and package delivery services.

“Additionally, customs worked alongside the police and BNN to intercept 48,000 MDMA pills and 7.6 kilograms of narcotics across four cases in Jakarta and Banten,” Sri Mulyani continued.

Another significant narcotics case involved the seizure of 23 kilograms of cannabis, 3,000 psychotropic pills, and 2.28 kilograms of a psychotropic substance known as ‘Happy Water.’

“We’re handling over 5,000 cases per month. The total value of goods seized is IDR 6.1 trillion, with potential state losses amounting to IDR 3.9 trillion,” she explained.

In addition, enforcement actions on imports, particularly textiles and textile-related products, amounted to IDR 4.6 trillion.

“As a result, we have been able to recover state revenue through ultimum remedium measures, generating IDR 55.6 billion from 1,390 excise enforcement actions,” Sri Mulyani concluded. (RR)