Madura Customs Thwarts Illegal Cigarette Delivery Worth Hundreds Of Millions

Madura Customs Officers inspected one of the cars passing on Jalan Raya Bangkalan in a joint operation to eradicate the circulation of illegal cigarettes with the local district government. (ANTARA/HO-Bea Excise Madura)

PAMEKASAN - The Madura Customs Office, East Java thwarted the delivery of cigarettes without excise stamps, aka illegal, carried out by the cigarette entrepreneur on Garam Island in a joint operation with the local district government.

The Public Relations Officer of the Madura Tesar Pratama Customs Office explained that 196,000 illegal cigarettes had been confiscated by officers in the joint operation, with a total value of more than IDR 245 million.

"Our operation was held in Bangkalan with the Bangkalan Regency Government Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol-PP) targeting trucks, pick-up cars, private cars and ankle cars," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, September 22.

In addition to the types of goods cars and people, officers also target delivery service cars.

"In this freight forwarding service car, we found that there were cigarettes that were not attached to excise stamps that were to be sent outside Madura, such as Java and a number of other islands outside Madura," he said.

Estimates state losses from excise stamp-free cigarettes found in the operation are around Rp. 155 million more.

"Currently, we have confiscated the evidence, while the owner is being investigated for further investigation," he said.

Based on data released by this institution, it is stated that the circulation of cigarettes that are not attached to excise tape is rife in Madura Island and is found to be widely produced in almost all districts on Garam Island, starting from Sumenep, Pamekasan, Sampang and Bangkalan Regencies.

Dozens of cigarette brands have been confiscated by this institution, such as the Lois, Nice, Geok, Hotman, Ayla, KNN and Turbo brands.

Cigarettes without excise stamps are mass-produced and become a household industry, some even to villages in Pamekasan Regency were also found producing these illegal cigarettes.

"There are individuals to the village who also produce and distribute cigarettes without excise stamps, and we have processed them in accordance with applicable regulations," he said, without mentioning the name of the village head in question.