Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Marine Police arrested two people for trying to smuggle several thousands of cell phones from Singapore to Batam on Friday.

"The cell phones entered Batam illegally," Chief of Indonesian Marine Police in Riau Islands Province, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Yassin Kosasih said.

Kosasih said the cell phones did not have any legal papers.

The police had detained two suspects when loading packs of these illegal phones into trucks shortly after arriving at the Jembatan IV Barelang port from Batam by a ship, he said.

The suspects told the police the seized Nokia cell phones was supposed to be shipped to Nagoya. "The phones may be brought to Lucky Plaza shopping mall," he said.

The suspects said they did not know the owner of the cell phones but they were only asked by somebody to bring them to Lucky Plaza, Kosasih said.

In the raid, the police also confiscated several boxes of cell phone accessories of different brands.

Kosasih said his men managed to foil the smuggling due to the local people`s tips.

"The success is the result of good cooperation between the police and the people. We thank them," he said.

Indonesia`s Batam Island, which directly borders with Singapore, has not only been used as a gateway to Indonesia by smugglers but also by drug traffickers.

Last August, the anti-narcotics division of Riau Islands Provincial Police arrested Syaiful Azhar Sipahutar alias Lung, 32, for smuggling 1.445 kilograms of marijuana in Batam Island.

"The suspect was arrested on August 27," Chief of the Riau Island Provincial Police`s anti-narcotics division Commissioner Himawan Bayu Aji said.

The suspect was caught red handed at Baloi Persero neighborhood while driving a car loaded with a kilogram of dried marijuana, he said.(*)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
COPYRIGHT © 2012

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