Selling Illegal Cigarettes Three Chinese Foreigners Named As Suspects

Police arrested three Chinese foreigners / Photo: Antara

TANGERANG - Three foreign nationals (foreigners) from China have been named suspects in the case of illegal cigarettes that cost the state nearly IDR 1 billion.

Head of the Intelligence Section of the South Tangerang District Prosecutors' Office, Purkon Rohiyat, said the three suspects were Zhou Yanhua (42), Zhang Wangling (35) and Zhou Qihong (45).

They were handed over to the South Tangerang (Tangsel) District Attorney's Office (Kejari), Friday, May 13.

"We received the handover of Phase II from the Customs and Excise investigators as many as three suspects along with 1,564,600 sticks of evidence," said Purkon when confirmed, Friday, May 13.

Purkon explained that the suspects were caught distributing cigarettes without official excise stamps. The illegal cigarettes that have been circulated by the suspects reach millions of sticks.

"Offering, delivering, selling or providing for sale unpackaged excisable goods for retail sale," he said.

In his opportunity, Purkon explained that the suspects sold the illegal cigarettes for Rp. 635 per stick. For their actions, the state suffered a loss of almost Rp. 1 billion.

"As a result of the suspect's actions, the state has a potential loss of Rp. 993,521,000.00," he concluded.