Korpolairud Baharkam Polri Capture 8 Vietnamese Ships To Fail The Smuggling Of Thousands Of Cigarettes

Kakorpolairud Baharkam Polri, Inspector General M. Yassin Kosasih. (Rizky A-VOI)

JAKARTA - The Baharkam Polri Water and Air Police Corps (Korpolairud) explained a number of actions that had been carried out during the 2024 period. Starting from catching Foreign Fishing Vessels (KIA) to smuggling illegal cigarettes.

Kakorpolairud Baharkam Polri, Inspector General M. Yassin Kosasih said there were at least 8 vessels arrested related to illegal fishing. All have Vietnamese flags.

"We have arrested 8 foreign fishing vessels with Vietnamese flags in the North Natuna Sea. So there are 8 yes," Yassin told reporters, Tuesday, December 3.

The action was carried out because the Vietnamese-flagged ships entered the Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ.

The Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ is marine waters that are outside and border the territorial sea of a country. In EEZ, the state has the right to natural wealth, legal policies, and so on.

"They enter the EEZ area where they cannot enter, we enforce the law by the Polair Directorate of Baharkam Polri," he said.

In addition, Yassin also said that his party revealed four smuggling cases by sea, one of which occurred in the Riau Islands region.

The perpetrators tried to smuggle large amounts of cigarettes. However, thanks to the skills of his staff, this action was thwarted.

"One of them is the entry of illegal cigarettes amounting to thousands of tons, thousands of sticks that we have secured," he said.

However, the handling of the case was delegated to Customs and Excise. This is because Polairud is said to have no authority regarding this matter.

"So even though we cannot handle it directly, we continue to disclose and enforce the law for the next process, we will give it to Customs and Excise which has the authority," said Yassin.