The Initials Are LHD And He Is A Suspect For Illegal Cigarette Smuggling Who Was Dragged By TPPU Rp1 Trillion

The Director General of Customs and Excise held a joint photo session in front of the HSC ship which was secured, for carrying millions of illegal imported cigarettes. ANTARA/Yude

JAKARTA - Customs and Excise reveals the Crime of Money Laundering (TPPU) resulting from smuggling illegal cross-border imported cigarettes with a potential state loss of Rp. 1 trillion in Berakit waters, Riau Islands.

Director General of Customs and Excise Askolani stated that the case was revealed when Customs and Excise held an Customs and Excise Sea Operation in October 2020.

"From this case, it was determined as the largest ML case whose investigation process was carried out by Customs and Excise with the potential loss of state revenue reaching Rp. 1 trillion," said Askolani, in Batam, Riau Islands, Friday, September 23.

This case was revealed when the Customs and Excise marine patrol officer took action on the Pratama Motor Screen Ship (KLM). It was found that around 51,40,000 illegal imported cigarettes were imported by the Luffman brand which were brought from Vietnam to the waters of Berakit, Riau Islands in October 2020.

The perpetrators are known to have demolished cargo in the middle of the sea (ship to boat), and transferred the cargo to several High Speed Crafts (HSC) ships which are planned to be transported to several locations in the eastern coastal area of Sumatra.

"From the results of the investigation conducted by the Riau Islands Special Customs and Excise Regional Office against the smuggling of illegal imported cigarettes, the Tanjung Balai Karimun District Court and the Tanjung Pinang District Court have named fifteen suspects who have been legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of Article 102 letter (a) and/or Article 102 letter (b) U Kepabean which has permanent legal force," he said.

As a follow-up to the handling of cases, Customs and Excise through the Customs and Excise TPPU Task Force coordinates with PPATK (Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center), the Directorate General of Taxes, the Prosecutor's Office, BAIS TNI, Military Police, TNI AD, and other relevant agencies to develop investigations.

"The result was that in September 2021, a suspect with the initials LHD was again named who was proven to have committed a criminal act that violated Article 102 letter (a) and/or Article 102 letter (b) of the Customs Law and Article 3 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering for the period 2019-2020," he also said.

Then, at the end of August 2022, the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Indonesia stated that the results of the investigation were complete (P-21), the case file for the suspect LHD was determined as the largest ML case whose investigation process was carried out by Customs and Excise, with the potential loss of state revenue reaching Rp. 1 trillion.

Currently, the Customs and Excise TPPU Task Force has managed to confiscate evidence in the form of 1 unit of KLM Pratama GT210, 1 car, 1 unit of engine HSC 38 meters of MAN 3x1,800 HP engine, 5 units of HSC, 3 units of fast boats, and cash in the form of rupiah and Singapore dollars, with a total value of goods and cash reaching Rp44.6 billion rupiah.

Askolani said that the reason her party had just revealed this case to the public was because they were still waiting for the investigation process from Customs and Excise.

"So after it's finished, we can convey it, because we don't want to convey what is still in process and there is no legal certainty," he said.