Indian Nationals Accused of Smuggling Nearly $200 Million in Gold from Indonesia

Indonesian police have apprehended two Indian nationals accused of running a sophisticated illegal gold smuggling operation that allegedly generated nearly $200 million (Rp3 trillion) in just two months.

According to the Director of Special Crimes at the National Police's Criminal Investigation Unit (Bareskrim Polri), Brig. Gen. Moh Irhamni, the syndicate was capable of processing and smuggling approximately 30 kilograms of gold daily. "You can imagine 30 kilograms times 30 days, roughly one ton. If one gram costs Rp2.6 million, it's almost Rp3 trillion that was smuggled abroad without our knowledge," Irhamni stated.

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You can imagine 30 kilograms times 30 days, roughly one ton. If one gram costs Rp2.6 million, it's almost Rp3 trillion that was smuggled abroad without our knowledge.

The sheer volume of the operation suggests a significant economic value derived from potentially illegal mining activities. Police are currently investigating the distribution network and the alleged smuggling of these mining products abroad. Irhamni emphasized that the crackdown would target perpetrators from the initial mining stage to the final export process.

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The illegal mining activities are from upstream to downstream. It is suspected that the sales proceeds in Jakarta will later be taken abroad by smuggling them illegally to destination countries.

Authorities arrested the two foreign nationals in separate apartments in North Jakarta. At one location, investigators found two gold bars weighing approximately one kilogram each, along with about half a kilogram of gold in the form of rings. The second location, believed to be used for processing gold before smuggling, yielded 18 pieces of white metal residue, weighing around 18 kilograms, identified as a byproduct of gold processing. Police suspect the actual smuggled gold could be ten times the amount of residue found.

In addition to gold and processing residue, police seized cash in rupiah and US dollars, along with various equipment suspected to have been used in the gold processing. The two Indian nationals had reportedly been in Indonesia for only about two months, entering the country on passports for investor or business purposes.

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This is the residue, close to silver. Residue from gold processing. There are 18 pieces, approximately 18 kilograms. This means the pure gold that was smuggled might be tens of times more, perhaps ten times more than what is here. This is just the residue.