The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) has managed to collect Rp 12.5 trillion for the goods from the stand. The figure comes from 14,000 actions during January-July 2021.

The Director General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance, Askolani, explained that the value of the frozen goods had doubled compared to the realization in 2020. Of the total, the bulk of the bulk goods came from illegal cigarettes, reaching 41%.

Then, 7% of the total cached goods came from liquor (alcohol), 7% drugs, and 6% vehicles. The rest comes from other illegal goods such as textiles, drugs, land vehicles, machinery, and others.

“Of course the tendency will be our basis in terms of customs and excise. This spike is indeed the challenge that we face in the field is increasing. That's why deterrence is higher,” said Askolani.

On the other hand, the amount of bulk goods from illegal cigarettes is in line with the level of circulation of illegal cigarettes in 2020 reaching 4.86%. The authority claims this condition is due to the average cigarette excise rate in 2020 which reached 23.5%.

In fact, in 2019 the number of illegal cigarette sales was able to reach 3.03%, or almost close to the authority's target so far, below 3%. However, indeed in 2019 during the Presidential Election (Pilpres) period, the government chose not to increase cigarette excise rates.

“We continue to do our best to reduce it to a minimum, so we hope that we can reduce illegal cigarettes to below 3%. Of course, we are trying to develop and move from illegal to legal so that we can increase excise revenues," he said.