Batam, Batamnews: Joint officers arrested an unnamed wooden ship carrying 8,784 bottles of illegal alcoholic beverages in the waters of Tanjung sengkuang, Batam City, Riau Islands, on Thursday (20/10/2022) night.

The estimated value of the catch amounted to IDR 4.38 billion. From there, the state loss is estimated to reach IDR 9 billion. The catch was carried out by the Batam Customs Sriwijaya Net Operation team, assisted by Riau Islands Customs and the Main Naval Base IV Batam.

Head of Compliance Guidance and Information Services of Batam Customs, M Rizki Baidillah, explained the chronology of the incident began when his people received information from the public that a wooden ship suspected of carrying illegal Alcohol would enter Indonesian waters.

"After receiving information, we conducted a chase, assisted by the Main Naval Base IV patrol team. During the pursuit and termination process, the ship deliberately hit the customs patrol boat so that the hull of the patrol boat was damaged. In addition, the crew of the wooden ship was not cooperative," he said.

After that, the ship drove at high speed into the shallow waters around the waters of Tanjungsengkuang so that the ship ran aground.

When the ship ran aground, the crew attempted to escape by jumping into the Sea. At the same time, the entire patrol task force tried to carry out Search and Rescue activities. However, not long after the incident, based on the officer's observation, two boats were seen helping the crew to escape.

"Officers successfully arrested the ship. During the inspection, no ship documents were found, and it was found that the ship was in a leaky condition and the ship's nameplate had been discarded by the ship's crew," concluded Rizki.

The perpetrators are suspected of violating Article 102 of the Customs Law with criminal sanctions for smuggling in the field of imports with a minimum imprisonment of 1 year and maximum imprisonment of 10 years, a fine of at least IDR 50 million, and a maximum of IDR 5 billion.

Article 50 of the Excise Law can also be charged with imprisonment for a minimum of 1 year, a maximum of 5 years, a fine of at least 2 times the value of excise and a maximum of 10 times the value of excise that should have been paid.