TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Directorate General of Customs and Excise Office in Riau and West Sumatera had confiscated illegally smuggled goods worth Rp 54 billion. The confiscation was claimed to have saved the country from suffering Rp 9 billion losses.

"The confiscated goods were gathered from 168 raids in Riau and North Sumatera," said Yusmariza, Chief of the Customs and Excise Office of Riau and West Sumatera on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

Yuzmariza asserted that cigarette commodities are one of the massively distributed illegal commodities in Riau and West Sumatera with a total number of 64 cases. The distribution of non-taxed cigarettes are considered as the highest contributor of state losses with a value of Rp 7.2 billion, followed by illegal liquor with Rp 1.1 losses, and mobile phones and its accessories with possible state losses of Rp 436 million.

Yusmariza explained that as many as 49 cases are still being investigated while one case is ready to be brought to trial. "[The case] was about shallot smuggling with a single suspect," Yusmariza stated.

Yusmariza added that many of the confiscated goods have been neglected by its owners. Yusmariza also said that the suspects often employs sporadic distribution patterns, creating trouble for officers to name a definite suspect.

Most of the goods, according to Yusmariza, were confiscated from courier services who have no information about the smuggled goods. "They used unknown drivers, and the drivers often don’t know who owns the goods, and who it will be delivered to, it's a scattered pattern," Yusmariza said.

RIYAN NOFITRA