"The suspect can be sentenced to jail for up to five years and also pay Rp5 billion in fine."Pontianak (ANTARA News) - The West Kalimantan police seized a total of 6.9 tonnes of illegal sugar brought from Malaysia on Wednesday (Sept. 8) night, according to an official.
"The illegal sugar was being transported using three pickup trucks. The police were patrolling the Trans-Kalimantan road when they stopped the three trucks," West Kalimantan police spokesman Senior Commissioner Mukson Munandar said here on Thursday.
After inspecting the trucks, the police detained a 40-year-old suspect named Sa.
"The suspect is considered to have violated the regulation on consumer protection, article 62, regulation No. 98/1999, article 55, and regulation No. 77/1996," Mukson noted.
"The suspect can be sentenced to jail for up to five years and also pay Rp5 billion in fine," he added.
According to West Kalimantan police office data, during the January-May 2012 period, there were 37 attempts to smuggle illegal sugar from Malaysia to Kalimantan.
Earlier, the head of Sanggau district Setiman H Sudin stated that 77 percent of West Kalimantan province`s sugar demand was met illegally.
"Sugar demand in the province can reach 7,000 tonnes per month, or 84,000 tonnes per year, while only 11,000 tonnes of sugar, along with an additional 9,000 tonnes of imported sugar, comes to the province`s market officially each year," he said.
(Uu.A057/A051/INE/KR-BSR/B003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
