Batam Customs Failed Gold Smuggling Worth IDR 4.8 Billion

Head of the Batam Customs Office Zaky Firmansyah showed evidence of 2.5 kg of smuggled gold which was thwarted in the case expose at the Customs and Security Office, Tuesday (1/10/2025). (ANTARA/Laily Rahmawaty)

Batam Customs and Excise, Riau Islands thwarted the smuggling of gold jewelry in the form of bracelets and necklaces worth IDR 4.8 billion from Malaysia.

Batam Customs Head Zaky Firmansyah said the 2.5 kilogram gold jewelry was planned to be brought to East Java for sale.

"This gold ornamental is 145 pcs, with a total weight of 2,575 grams (2.5 kg)," Zaky said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 1.

He explained that the perpetrator was a man with the initials EA aged 32 years from North Sumatra. On Monday (22/9), officers of Customs and Excise at the Batam Center International Ferry Port were arrested for carrying 2.5 kg of gold jewelry without documents.

The arrest of the perpetrator, he said, began with the suspicion of officers with the body movements of the perpetrator who had just arrived at Batam Center from the Seabones, Malaysia.

"Officers carried out an in-depth inspection of passengers and found something odd in the area of the passenger's stomach and pants pocket," he said.

From the results of the examination, he continued, it was found that gold jewelry was stored in three packs wrapped into the victim's body using a corset. "So the gold is stored in the cavity of the body. Our mode is called a body tapping. Usually used in drug cases, now the mode of smuggling is gold," he explained.

According to the perpetrator's statement, he was ordered by a person with the initials MJ, an Indonesian citizen who works in Malaysia, with a salary of Rp. 3 million.

Malaysia's estimated gold value of 95 percent reached IDR 4.8 billion, which if passed has the potential to cost the state IDR 1.7 billion.

Zaky said, throughout 2025, his party had twice prevented gold smuggling from Malaysia. Previous affirmations at the beginning of the year, weighing 2.9 kg.

The perpetrators sold gold from Malaysia because they were tempted by prices and profits. Because of the difference in the price of gold in the neighboring country with gold in the country.

The perpetrator should have reported the valuables he brought and paid his obligations. However, the perpetrator tried to avoid the examination by storing gold in his body.

The perpetrator's actions were included in the criminal act of violating Article 102 letter E of Law Number 17 of 2006 concerning customs.