Jakarta. The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) at the Finance Ministry seized 249 million illegal cigarettes in January, a 53.8% increase from the same period last year.

“In January 2025, only around 63 million were seized. This year, this jumped to 249 million illegal cigarettes confiscated by Customs,” Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara said at a press conference on Monday.

He said the year-on-year increase reached 295.9%, partly due to the discovery of a large illegal cigarette warehouse in Pekanbaru. The operation involved multiple law enforcement agencies and contributed to the rise in seizures at the start of the year.

Official Finance Ministry data show that as of the end of September 2025, DJBC had conducted 13,484 enforcement actions, resulting in the seizure of 816 million illegal cigarette sticks. The majority were machine-made clove (kretek) cigarettes (SKM), accounting for 72.9%, followed by machine-made non-clove cigarettes (SPM) at 21.3%, with other types making up the remaining 5.8%.

A 2025 study by the Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI), conducted in six major cities, found that illegal cigarette circulation is more prevalent in regions with extensive tobacco plantations and a high concentration of cigarette factories. Surabaya and Makassar recorded the highest levels of illegal cigarette distribution.

Beyond cigarettes, DJBC also carried out anti-narcotics operations. As of January 2026, authorities recorded 95 narcotics enforcement actions, down 2.1% year-on-year. However, despite the slight decline in cases, the total weight of seized narcotics rose 11.7 percent annually to 0.21 tons.

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