TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Trade Ministry confiscated five tons of garlic seeds from the Kramat Jati Market, Jakarta. The 254 bags seeds are now stored at the Distributor Center's Warehouse Complex in North Jakarta.
The Ministry prohibits garlic seeds from being sold in the market for food-sufficiency purposes.
"We have the name of the garlic seed supplier importer. We will not hesitate to sanction them if they are proven to have violated import rules," the ministry's director of trade compliance Veri Anggriono said on Monday, March 12.
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Veri said the importer has a license from the Agriculture Ministry to import 300 tons of garlic seeds. The garlic importer PT Tunas Sumber Rezeki, Veri said, has imported 232 tons of garlic seeds through Tanjung Priok Port on February 26, 2018.
The company committed a violation by placing the seeds in the market, whereas the government forbids it.
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The Trade Ministry, Veri said, will prosecute rogue importers who commit violations. The sanction is to pay a fine of Rp10 billion. "And their permit will be revoked," he said.
Meanwhile, Tunas Sumber Rezeki president director Sutrisno said there has been a "miscommunication", and that the company had not committed any violation. To date, he said the company is investigating why and how their garlic seeds were able to reach the market.
CHITRA PARAMAESTI