Suspecting Expeditionary Trucks, Lanal Secures 101,600 Illegal Cigarette Packs At Labuan Bajo Port

Lanal together with Labuan Bajo Customs and Excise pointed to a truck loaded with suspected illegal cigarettes in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, NTT. (ANTARA/Gecio Viana)

The Labuan Bajo Naval Base Security Task Force (Lanal) thwarted the circulation of 1.62 million illegal cigarettes during operations at Multipurpose Port, Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Wednesday, March 27 evening. Lanal Commander Labuan Bajo Marine Lt. Col. (P) Iwan Hendra Susilo said the millions of illegal cigarettes with a value of goods reaching Rp2.49 billion were within 101,600 packs packaged in 127 large boxes. "We got it after conducting an inspection of an expedition truck that carried out about 100 meters of the port gate," he said in Labuan Bajo, Thursday, March 28, which was confiscated by Antara. The action was based on intelligence and suspicion of a high-charge expedition truck arriving in Labuan Bajo using KM Dharma Rucitra VIII on the Surabaya-Lembar route of NTB-Labuan Bajo NTT-Ende NTT. To trick officers, he continued, hundreds of boxes containing illegal cigarettes were inserted among the boxes containing snacks. "In the examination, it was found that the alleged violation of the cigarette did not have excise according to the rules, it did not have a cigarette distributor's letter and an illegal road certificate because it was not listed as CV (determination of the commandditer) sender and receiver of the goods. "The cigarette per packaging should be 16 cigarettes, but the excise per pack is only for 12 sticks," he explained.

Pihaknya juga telah mengamankan sebanyak tiga orang yang berperan sebagai sopir berinisial OES (23), pemilik barang berinisial DJ (54) dan penerima barang bernama Johan."Kami akan terus berupaya optimal untuk menegakkan hukum dan pengamanan perairan laut Labuan Bajo dalam rangka mendukung terciptanya Labuan Bajo sebagai destinasi pariwisata internasional yang telah dicanangkan Presiden," jelasnya.Selanjutnya, dugaan peredaran rokok ilegal tersebut diserahkan kepada Bea Cukai Labuan Bajo yang diterima Kepala Seksi Penindakan dan Penyidikan Fatkhur Rohman.Kepala Seksi Penindakan dan Penyidikan Bea Cukai Labuan Bajo Fatkhur Rohman mengatakan tiga orang yang telah diamankan ditetapkan sebagai saksi."Kami akan lakukan penelitian, secara undang-undang opsinya ada dua alternatif yakni administrasi dan pidana," katanya.Ia menjelaskan akan melakukan pemeriksaan saksi-saksi dan barang bukti. Jika dinilai cukup maka kasus tersebut dilanjutkan ke proses pidana."Kalau penyelesaian administrasi kita dengan mekanisme administrasi," katanya.