Indonesia's Ministry of Finance Directorate General of Customs and Excise uncovered multiple cases of illegal imports between August and September, involving goods including rice, salt, and used clothing, with enforcement operations carried out in four locations.

Customs Director General Djaka stated that the four cases involved the seizure of 30 containers in total, including rice and salt with declarations inconsistent with actual contents, as well as approximately 1,435 bales of suspected second-hand clothing. According to a Metro TV report on September 22, the enforcement locations were the Malacca Strait waters, Tanjung Perak Port, the Bogor bonded zone, and Tanjung Priok Port.

In terms of specific breakdown, 430 bales of used clothing were seized in North Sumatra Province, valued at 3.4 billion Indonesian rupiah; 15 containers loaded with rice and salt were seized at Tanjung Priok Port, valued at 7.8 billion rupiah; another 15 similar containers were seized in Bogor, valued at 8.006 billion rupiah; and 9 containers loaded with second-hand clothing were also seized at Tanjung Priok Port, valued at 8.04 billion rupiah. The total value of the seized goods is estimated at 27.339 billion Indonesian rupiah.

Djaka stated that customs inspections found false declarations in the goods involved, with owners using packaging methods and cargo arrangement to conceal the contents, such as mixing salt with rice to make the entire shipment appear to be salt not subject to import bans or restrictions.

All goods involved have currently been seized by customs and will be further processed in accordance with existing legal provisions. Follow-up investigations will be advanced by customs in coordination with the Indonesian National Police Criminal Investigation Department's law enforcement personnel coordination body and the Indonesian Prosecutor's Office.

For the used clothing trade industry, the second-hand clothing portion of this seizure once again demonstrates that Indonesia's regulation of imported used clothing remains at a high-pressure level, and informal channel supply sources and declaration methods are facing increasingly rigorous inspection.

Source: Customs Seizes Illegal Imported Rice and Used Clothing Cases Worth 27.339 Billion Rupiah - Huaren Toutiao · Originally published on 2026-09-22