Customs And Excise Calls Illegal Used Clothes Entering Indonesia Via Malaysia

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) revealed that the majority of used clothes (ballpres) that entered Indonesia came from neighboring countries, Malaysia.

For your information, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance together with the Indonesian Navy failed the income of containers containing balpres or used clothes and bags of 775 bal worth Rp1.51 billion in the Tanjung Priok Port area, North Jakarta.

The action was carried out from Saturday 9 August to Tuesday 12 August in three strategic locations, namely the 212 Domestic Cadet (the unloading location), the TPS TER3 (the scanning location) import scanner tool, and the CDC Banda TPS (the location for hoarding and inspection of goods).

Director General of Customs and Excise Djaka Budhi Utama said hundreds of illegal imported balpres entered through Malaysia, because of the geographical location adjacent to Indonesia.

"The most countries, as we all know, are bordering Malaysia. Then on the border of the Malacca Strait with Malaysia," Djaka said at a press conference at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, Thursday, August 14.

From the frequency side, continued Djaka, most of these illegal used imported clothes came from Malaysia. Although, he said, some came from other countries.

"The majority, if you look at the frequency that enters Indonesian territory, is based on Malaysia. Because almost all the bal press that comes in is always through Malaysia. And sometimes there are also those from other neighboring countries," he said.

Djaka said the value of state losses was not calculated in terms of revenue because these goods were prohibited from importing based on the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 18 of 2021 in conjunction with Permendag Number 40 of 2022.

However, Djaka said, balpres could cause immaterial losses, ranging from lowering the image of the nation, potentially carrying diseases through viruses and bacteria, disrupting the domestic textile industry, to erode the market share of local products.

"To eradicate smuggling, we will continue to strengthen aut patrols, supervision at container terminals, and the use of scanning technology. Consistent law enforcement and synergy between agencies are the keys to protecting the public and supporting the national economy," said Djaka.

Throughout 2025, Customs and Excise has uncovered several major cases. On March 13, 2025, Makassar Customs and Excise took action against 873 balpres worth IDR 1.4 billion from three containers that entered through Makassar's Soekarno-Hatta Port, with a mode without customs notice documents.

Then, on March 14, 2025, the Customs and Excise of Pangkalan Bun took action against 167 collusion ballistics worth Rp665 million from one truck at Panglima Snake Port with a mode without customs notification documents.

The prosecution continued, on April 26, 2025, the Directorate of Enforcement and Customs Investigation took action against two trucks carrying 132 colli balpres worth Rp1 billion on the Cikampek Toll Road. The presidential election is suspected to be a former import sent from East Java to Jakarta.

Then, on April 30, 2025, Dumai Customs took action against a ship loaded with 150 bale bales worth IDR 525 million with the mode not being notified in customs documents.

Most recently, on August 7, 2025, the West Kalimantan Customs and Excise Regional Office secured 2,000 bale balpres in eight containers worth IDR 4 billion at the Depo Temas Shipping Container Field without any customs documents.

"The achievement of the prosecution of balpres by Customs and Excise confirms that the ballpress is still one of the commodities most often targeted for smuggling and merging, the priority of supervision of Customs and Excise throughout Indonesia," said Djaka.