JAKARTA: The Customs and Excise Directorate General has announced that it managed to foil an alleged illegal import of seven containers, loaded with 163.5 tons of beef innards from Australia and New Zealand, at Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta.
Heru Pambudi, the Customs and Excise director general, said importer PT CSUB attempted to deceive customs officers by submitting import documentation explaining that the containers they had imported contained monosodium phosphate, a substance usually added to cattle feed.
“They filed an import request on May 21. The information we collected and a tip-off led us to uncovering the containers actually having something else,” Heru was quoted as saying by kompas.com on Thursday.
According to him, the company imported five types of innards: frozen beef heart, liver, neck trim, kidneys and lungs, worth Rp 3.5 billion (US$262,664).
Heru said PT CSUB claimed that it was the first time for the company to have had illegally imported goods.
“Currently, we are questioning five people involved in the case,” Heru said.
