Riau police foils attempt to smuggle 120 tons of tin ores
Monday, April 30 2001 - 05:00 AM WIB
The South Sumatera police seized last week an unidentified vessel for attempting to smuggle 120 tons of tin ores from Bangka island to Singapore, Republika daily reported on Monday.
The daily said that the seizure of the tin ores worth Rp 2.5 billion was the largest smuggling case, which has so far been handled by the local police.
The police said that the vessel attempted to smuggle the tin ore from Bangka Island, the country's only tin producer, to Singapore but their attempt did not run as expected as the ship stalled and ran aground when it was just about to leave the Pangkal Pinang shore.
Ten people comprising of the ship's captain and his crew and the owner of the tin ore were arrested for their alleged involvement in the smuggling attempt, the daily said.
Bangka island is the country's only tin producer with publicly listed tin mining company PT Timah controlling most of its tin resource. (*)