Navy seizes 13 sand ships heading to Singapore

The Jakarta Post

BATAM, Riau Islands (Antara): West Navy Fleet Commander Col. Denny Noviandy said Saturday the Indonesian Navy has seized 13 ships when they were heading to Singapore to smuggle sands.

The government issued a regulation to ban exports of sand and top soil since Feb. 6 to prevent excessive sand shippings of the construction materials to Singapore.

Denny said the 13 ships carried some 39 tons of sand. They were arrested on Feb. 6 and 22.

"We will continue to carry out patrols because continuous exploitation and exports of sand will cause great losses for Indonesia," Denny was quoted as saying.

Denny said that patrols to monitor the move of cargo ships were not only involved ships from the sea, but also helicopters to carry out monitoring activities from the air.

"We need to carry out air patrols to know that ships carrying sands are moving to Singapore or not," he added.

Trade Minister Mari Elka Mangestu recently issued regulation No. 02/M-DAG/PER/I/2007 on sand export, which hampered construction business in Singapore. But there are still many ships, which still illegally smuggled sand to Singapore.