Even at a distance, the view of several buildings is enough to illustrate the progress and busyness of urban Singapore as a tourist and business destination.
Officers were seen working on board the BC 20007 boat of the Batam Customs Sea Patrol. They are the main shield against the smuggling of illegal goods into the country.
Susceptible to trafficking
The BC 20007 boat cruises quite fast around the waters of the Singapore Strait. The soft vibration of the engine combined with the roar of the waves created a calming yet alert rhythm.
Customs officers routinely conduct sea patrols using three main boats, one of which is the BC 20007. The crew of this boat conducts patrolling in turns in the waters of the Indonesia-Singapore border.
One of the officers, Fatoni, stated that security measures in the Batam area still need to be carried out strictly. This is because Batam is one of the areas vulnerable to being targeted by smugglers to bring their illegal goods into Indonesia.
With its strategic location in the straits of Malacca and Singapore, Batam has been one of the hotspots for trafficking activities.
Batam is located on a bustling international shipping lane. Its proximity to Singapore, which is one of the world's busiest ports, makes Batam an ideal transit point for those looking to smuggle goods into Indonesia or vice versa.
Furthermore, another factor is that Batam and its surrounding regions consist of small islands. If those islands are not monitored maximally, smugglers will have the opportunity to use unofficial ports that are hard to detect by the authorities.
Moreover, the volume of trade in the Indonesia-Singapore border area is also considered quite high.
As a free trade zone, Batam has a high volume of trade. The large number of ships entering and leaving the city's port provides an opportunity for illicit trade.
Those factors make it challenging for the authorities to monitor and combat smuggling activities in Batam.
Meth contraband
After an hour of sailing, the BC 20007 boat docked briefly at one of the small islands, which is the customs sea patrol post.
Drug trafficking via the Batam waters is among the smuggling activities that customs patrol personnel are most wary of.
As an experienced captain, Fatoni and several crew members of the BC 20007 boat have made history by preventing the smuggling of drugs with one of the largest volumes, namely 1.6 tons of methamphetamine, to Indonesia.
At that time, the customs patrol team received a sudden call to keep an eye on a ship suspected of carrying drugs. The information was obtained from one of the customs informants.
Based on the information the team received, a blue fishing vessel bearing Mandarin characters on its body was spotted carrying a load.
The team then monitored the vessel, which had been under observation for two weeks, from the Anambas to the Natuna islands.
Fatoni and the crew departed after sunset. However, the vessel with the said characteristics did not show up until 1 a.m. local time.
When the team almost returned to refuel its boat and get food, the suspicious vessel appeared.
Fatoni and his crew decided to inspect the vessel. Although there was no resistance, the crew's uncooperativeness and poor lighting conditions made the inspection challenging.
The vessel was then towed to Sekupang for further inspection. With the help of police dogs, aka K-9s, 81 sacks of methamphetamine were found hidden behind a pile of ropes. It was found that the ship came from Taiwan.
Challenges
After about half an hour of rest and telling stories about thwarting the smuggling of 1.6 tons of drugs, Fatoni and the team returned to the BC 20007 boat.
On board the boat, while pointing to one of the gaps between several small islands, the crew explained that smugglers can use such routes to hide at night.
Many such gaps in the Riau Islands are used as unofficial ports. The Riau Islands area, especially Batam, is indeed known as an area prone to smuggling due to the presence of several unofficial ports that are hard to monitor.
According to data from Batam Customs, as of May 2024, some 155 ports were within the Batam Customs' supervision area, comprising 12 official ports and 143 unofficial ports.
The customs has classified the unofficial ports into several categories: 58 categorized as high risk, 32 as moderate risk, and 53 as low risk.
To tackle this challenge, the Batam Customs formed a Rapid Reaction Team that can move to all areas of Batam within 30 minutes.
Batam's condition as an area prone to smuggling illegal goods should be a major concern.
However, the Batam Customs Sea Patrol cannot solely be relied upon to guard the Indonesia-Singapore waters border. To this end, collaboration is carried out with other law enforcement agencies.
As of May 2024, Batam Customs reported having carried out 233 actions against illegal goods, with a total value of Rp11.53 billion (around US$708 thousand).
Those 233 actions comprised 118 routine surveillance actions, 104 maritime surveillance actions, and 11 narcotics, psychotropics, and precursors (NPP) surveillance actions, which were estimated to cause the state up to Rp15.47 billion (around US$950 thousand) in losses.
The Batam Customs mostly thwarted cases of smuggling of illegal tobacco and alcoholic beverages.
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Translator: Bayu Saputra, Raka Adji
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
