The Customs and Excise Directorate General will do its best to prevent illegal import and export ..."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has vowed to tighten supervision to check illegal import and export of commodities after seizing illegally-imported textile products and illegally-exported mineral and coal products, a minister said.

Four containers of illegally-imported textile products and 80 containers of illegally-exported mineral and coal products were seized, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said.

"The Customs and Excise Directorate General will do its best to prevent illegal import and export of commodities because these practices threaten Indonesias economy," the minister said at a press briefing here Monday.

In preventing smuggling in Indonesia, the Customs and Excise Directorate General needs to work in synergy with and support from ministries and authorized institutions closely related to the trade, he said.

The synergy and coordination were very significant for the success of Indonesias efforts to crackdown on smugglers, protect the domestic industries, strengthen logistics and investment, and optimize the state income, he said.

Thanks to improvement in synergy and better coordination, Indonesia was successful in foiling many attempts to smuggle such goods as liquor, textile, minerals and coal products since early 2015, said Brodjonegoro, who was accompanied by National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti and Customs and Excise Director General Heru Pambudi at the press conference.

Among the smuggling attempts that were foiled was a bid by PT KHYI to illegally import four containers of textile products from China, causing a loss of Rp3.3 billion (US$1=Rp13,600) to Indonesia in material terms. Also, there was an effort to illegally export 80 containers of mining products, such as zinc powder, iron ore and zinc concentrates, to the Netherlands, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Singapore, and Thailand, he said.

The illegal exports involved 21 exporters, who submitted to the customs officers false notifications about the volumes and kind of exported goods as well as false documents. As a result, the state suffered potential material losses reaching Rp73 billion, he said.

(Reported by Satyagraha/Uu.R013/INE/KR-BSR/B003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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