Sand barges fined and released by Batam court

The Straits Times, May 16, 2007
By Devi Asmarani, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT



IN JAKARTA - THE Singapore-bound vessels detained in Batam on suspicion of carrying contraband sand have been released because they were found to have committed only minor maritime law violations, Indonesian officials said yesterday.

The Batam District Court fined the captains of the six barges and tugboats - instead of five, as reported earlier - for violations such as failing to have emergency medical kits on board or employing crew with no legal papers.

Batam District prosecutor Melinda said yesterday that the first five barges were released on April 26 after being fined a total of 5 million rupiah (S$870) for not having medical kits on board.

The last barge was released on May 2 after a 8 million rupiah fine for failure to have legal papers. Four of the barges were Singapore-owned, she said.

The prosecutor said all the vessels were allowed to return to Singapore after they paid the fines.

Batam District Court spokesman A. Bondan told The Straits Times that none of the vessels was investigated for carrying sand.

'From the beginning, they were never under investigation for their content, only for breaching the Maritime Law,' he said.

Indonesia banned the export of land sand in February, citing environmental concerns and the need to protect its maritime boundaries.

The ban also affected the export of granite after the Indonesian navy began seizing barges carrying granite en route to Singapore on suspicion of smuggling sand.

The Indonesian navy has detained 25 vessels since then, including those carrying concrete sand, granite or granite mix.

The head of sea security for the navy's Western Fleet, Commodore Denny Novendy, said that two vessels had been released immediately because they had not broken any laws.

The remaining 17 are still being investigated by district prosecutors of the provincial Customs office, he said. Most of them had Singapore flags, he added.

Although not all the vessels carried sand, they were detained for other violations, he said without elaborating.

'Since the sand ban, the new modus operandi to smuggle out sand is by mixing it with granite,' he told The Straits Times.

'If the vessels do not do this or have not violated any law, they should not be worried about being detained.'

He also said that none of the crew on board the vessels was detained.