Customs And Excise Fails To Smuggle Lobster Seeds Worth Rp. 7.3 Billion To TAA Port

Sumbagtim foiled an attempt to smuggle 71,150 lobster seeds (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The East Sumatra Customs and Excise Office (Sumbagtim) foiled an attempt to smuggle 71,150 illegal lobster seeds allegedly destined for the Tanjung Api-Api Port (TAA) Banyuasin, South Sumatra.

"Yes, the alleged transportation of lobster seeds that we failed was planned to be sent via Tanjung Api-api," said Tri Budi Utomo, acting inspector of the Sumbagtim Regional Office of Customs and Excise, as quoted by ANTAM.

He explained that the smuggling was the result of developing information from the Customs and Excise of West Sumatra (Sumbagbar) which stated that there was a movement suspected of transporting lobster seeds from land traffic to the Customs and Excise area of Sumbagtim.

From this information, he said, he immediately coordinated with the South Sumatra Police and Palembang Fisheries Quarantine personnel and then intercepted at the exit of the Keramasan Toll Road, Palembang, last Saturday.

"Finally at around 4:40 pm we stopped a gray Kijang Innova minibus which was suspicious and unusual because the dark glass was tightly closed, inside we found 15 boxes of styrofoam," he said.

According to him, the car and its driver were immediately taken to the Sumbagtim Regional Customs and Excise Office in Palembang to confirm the contents of 15 Styrofoam boxes bound with brown plastic insulation.

"After counting 357 plastic wrappers from the 15 boxes, they contained a total of 71,150 lobster seeds consisting of pearls and sand," he said.

According to him, the state's loss is estimated at Rp. 7.3 billion, if the smuggling of lobsters is successful.

He admitted that the smuggling effort was still under development by officers, by carrying out an investigation into the driver of the car who has now been secured along with evidence.

"A perpetrator has been secured to the South Sumatra Police, for further investigation regarding the purpose and origin of the lobster seeds," he said again.

The perpetrator is suspected of violating Article 88 in conjunction with Article 16 paragraph (1) or Article 92 in conjunction with Article 26 paragraph (1) of Law Number 31 of 2004 concerning Fisheries, in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code. The threat of imprisonment is a maximum of 8 years and a fine of IDR 1.5 billion.