KKP Identification Of Fuel Smuggling Patterns Through Fishing Vessels

Director General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision Adin Nurawaluddin (second from the left). Photo: Doc. KKP Public Relations

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has identified a pattern of smuggling lobster clear seeds (BBL) from a number of places in Indonesia, until they were eventually sent illegally abroad. One of them was done using a fishing boat.

"Officers have identified BBL-producing areas, it was found that there was a role for collectors in distributing BBL," said Director General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision Adin Nurawaluddin in a written statement, Friday, July 14.

Adin said that the distribution pattern carried out by the perpetrators was identified as using land routes, sea routes, and air lines with BBL distribution patterns starting from small collectors, then to large collectors to cultivators or to other locations.

This identification was obtained from the results of surveillance operations held in the working area of the Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) of the Directorate General of PSDKP, which includes the working area of Lampulo PSDKP Base, Jakarta PSDKP Base, Cilacap PSDKP Station, Bitung PSDKP Base, Benoa PSDDP Base, Kupang PSDKP Station, and Batam PSDKP Base.

One of the results of surveillance in the BBL-producing area, the KKP found that the activity of catching in the Sumatra region was concentrated at one location. The results of the investigation at that location, the KKP managed to find the location of the collector and distribution pattern of BBL before being issued to Singapore.

"The mode of smuggling BBL in the Sumatra and Riau Islands has begun to develop using fishing vessels. Thus, the KKP through the Directorate General of PSDKP is actively conducting closed and open surveillance in the morning and evening to inspect fishing vessels suspected of transporting BBL to Singapore," said Adin.

Meanwhile, for the Java region, Adin has pocketed information on the location of the arrest and collection of BBL. The KKP also found that the distribution route in West Java shows that there is one area that is the initial distribution destination, before being continued to Jakarta or other locations.

"We have also pocketed the names of BBL collectors from small to large scales, as well as identified arrest locations in the southern coast of Java, Bali Island, to Lombok," he said.

Then, for the results of supervision in the Sulawesi area, Adin found indications that BBL was sent to a location that was not a BBL cultivator, so it was suspected that BBL was not to be cultivated but to be distributed back to other places.

Meanwhile, as a result of surveillance in the Nusa Tenggara region, the KKP suspects illegal fuel shipments using the Feri ship.

"Following up on the results of this surveillance operation, we will then carry out open supervision and coordinate with other relevant law enforcement agencies to follow up on BBL smuggling modes," he concluded.

For your information, in the Regulation of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Number 16 of 2022 concerning amendments to PERMENKP Number 17 of 2021 concerning Management of Lobster, Crab, and Crab in the Territory of the Republic of Indonesia, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono stated firmly that the ban on exporting BBL still applies.

The regulation states that BBL is only allowed to be cultivated domestically in accordance with applicable regulations.