Smuggled cell phones and paintings seized at airport

Customs and excise officers seized 1,700 cellular phones worth Rp 1.25 billion smuggled from Singapore through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Wednesday.

Eko Darmanto, chief of intelligence at the customs office said that the handphones produced by Nokie and Sonny Ericson were carried by an Indian national identified as AKJ, who flew from Singapore with Garuda Indonesia GA 823 and arrived at the airport in the morning.

He said the mobile phones were not equipped with proper documents from related agencies as required by imported goods.

“The No. 17/2006 law on customs and excise only allows companies to import the cellular phones,” he said.

According to Eko, the smuggled cellular phones we placed in five passenger luggages and officers at the checking point managed to detect them through the detecting divice.

However, no arrest was made for the smuggler because the case only deals with import procedure violation.

He said officers also seized eight old paintings sent from England through postal delivery service on April 4 to a receiver identified as MR in South Jakarta.

He said the delivery was not equipped with proper document and the value of the old water color and oil paintinigns was not reported at all.

“We are still looking for a curator to determine the value of the paintings,” he said, adding that all the paintings had been certified by curator in Sygum Museum of Wales, Beddgerlert, Guynedd.

Among the paintings are The Moor Above Kinloch Rannoch, painted by Edmond Morrisson Wimperis in 1835, Impressionist Landscape by Ted Moore in 1913, Land Scape View by Charles Hyde in 1914, Scottish Sea Loch With Fishing Boats by H. Baynes, After Emilio Gola, Indistinctly, Portofino Italian Rivera signed by D’Olly John 1906, Trio of Clowns by Eileen Matthewman and Coastal View by Charles Hyde in 1914.