Jewelry smuggling attempt foiled at airport

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Custom and Excise officers have foiled a smuggling attempt of expensive jewelries worth billionsof Rupiah from Hong Kong into the country through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

“We seized as many as 77 pieces of luxirious jewelries decorated with pearl, pure diamond, gold and giok stones comprising earings, bracelets, necklaces and rings from a passenger,” Eko Darmanto, chief of intelligence at airport Customs and Excise Office said Monday.

He said the 40-years old Indonesian woman identified as IJ arrived at the airport from Hong Kong with Garuda GA863 on July 26.

“Based passenger’s profile analyses, officers became suspicious of the woman who appreared to be nervous when she passed by the check point at the terminal,” he said.

Officers then asked the woman to open both her cabin and hand bags and found the jewelries hidden in her hand bag.

“The value of the jewelries exceeded the minimum limit of free obligation of items a passenger has to report in the declaration form,” he said, adding that the woman did not report the jewleries through the custom declaration.

He said officers were still examining the purity and the real value of the jewelries to find out how much the woman had to pay to the state for the import.

“For the time being, we alleged that the jewelries worth more than Rp 5 billion,” he said, adding that the woman had testified that the jewelries she took from Hong Kong belonged to several colleagues of her.