Indonesia, Malaysia Customs foil 30 smuggling cases in joint operation

JAKARTA: In a joint operation along the Indonesia-Malaysia land and maritime borders from July 13 to August 14, over three million illegal cigarettes and nearly 100 tonnes of rattan were among the contraband seized in 30 smuggling cases thwarted by Indonesian and Malaysian enforcement authorities. Indonesian Customs and Excise Public Relations and Outreach Head Budi Prasetiyo revealed that the operations uncovered three narcotics cases, 25 involving illicit cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, and one each concerning illegally imported used clothing and prohibited rattan exports.

The seizures included 3,004,536 illegal cigarettes, 1,044.4 liters of alcohol, 99,500kg of rattan, and four packages of unlawfully imported used clothing, alongside 61.04g of methamphetamine, 61.6g of cannabis, and four MDMA pills. The joint task force targeted high-risk areas within the jurisdictions of the Customs and Excise regional offices in western and eastern Kalimantan, based on intelligence risk-management analysis along the border.

Indonesian Customs and Excise personnel collaborated with the Malaysian Customs Department, alongside the National Narcotics Agency, police, and prosecutors. The operation concluded with a closing ceremony on Tuesday. The Joint Task Force on Illegal Goods, established in 2018, has been regularly conducting annual cooperation between Indonesian and Malaysian Customs since its inception, initially targeting narcotics trafficking networks along the border, before expanding its focus to include illegal cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and other contraband items, including fuel, motor vehicles, used clothing, frozen meat, rattan, and gold bars.