VZCZCXRO2363
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #0334/01 0511032
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201032Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8037
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 2019
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1590
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1535
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 2337
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 0572
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000334 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, S/CT, DS, INL, OES/ENRC 
DOJ FOR CTS THORNTON 
INL FOR BOULDIN, AAG SWARTZ 
TREASURY FOR BROOKS, KEHLERS 
NSC FOR E. PHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER ID
SUBJECT: USG-FUNDED PATROL BOATS MAKE WAVES AGAINST 
TRANSNATIONAL CRIME 
 
REF: 07 JAKARTA 3143 
 
JAKARTA 00000334  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  USG-provided patrol boats are making a 
difference in the GOI's campaign against transnational crime. 
 Over the past several weeks, Indonesian Police Marine Units 
have seized vessels involved in the transportation of illegal 
goods, such as logs and fish catches.  The high-speed boats 
provide the Marine Police for the first time with 
over-the-horizon visibility, a capability also useful in 
anti-terrorist and anti-piracy operations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) USG-PROVIDED PATROL BOATS:  The Department of 
State, through its Bureau for International Narcotics and Law 
Enforcement (INL), and the Department of Justice's 
International Criminal Investigation and Training Assistance 
Program (ICITAP) have provided 15 high-speed patrol boats and 
training to the Indonesian National Police's (INP) Marine 
Police.  The boats arrived in October 2007 and were fully 
operational by mid-January 2008.  They are already making a 
positive contribution to the INP's campaign against 
transnational crime, including by countering illegal logging, 
fish catches, and trafficking in persons. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The boats are now deployed to areas throughout the 
archipelago--but mainly in the Malacca Strait and the 
Sulawesi Sea south of Mindanao--to augment the INP's 
strategic goals of better controlling their territorial 
waterways.  The DOS-DOJ program plans to provide five 
additional boats:  two in Ternate, North Maluku, two in 
Sorong, Papua, and one for the Island of Java. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) SUCCESS IN OPERATIONS:  The boats are already 
having an impact.  The INP's Marine Police Special Boat Unit 
based on the island of Tarakon (located in East Kalimantan 
astride the Makassar Strait and near the Malaysian border) 
has made good use of its patrol boats.  The two boats used 
intelligence provided by national and local INP units to stop 
and board a fishing boat on February 8.  Police sources 
stated that the crew of three Indonesian nationals were 
illegally transporting 7-9 tons of fish caught without proper 
permits.  While the amount of fish is not significant by 
itself, the fact that the arrests were made signals the 
intent of the INP to enforce national laws and that it has 
the capability to do so.  For the first time, the boats are 
making it possible for the Marine Police to patrol farther 
from their bases, and to use speed to catch-up with and board 
vessels suspected of committing crimes. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Illegal logging is also a serious problem in 
Indonesia.  A Marine Police patrol boat was utilizing its new 
"over-the-horizon" navigation system on December 28, 2007, 
when the crew spotted a vessel loaded with logs in the 
Malacca Strait (near the islands of Batam, Indonesia and 
Singapore).  Upon closer inspection of the cargo, the captain 
of the police boat recognized the cargo as mangrove logs, a 
protected species of wood in Indonesia.  The police boarded 
the vessel, determined that the crew did not have proper 
permits for the logs, and arrested all three crew members. 
The 1,700 logs, each measuring five meters in length, have a 
value of $10-$100 per log or $17,000-170,000 for the 
shipment. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In addition, in late January, the Marine Police 
made a seizure and arrest in the vicinity of Bangka Island, 
near South Sumatra.  The two Marine Police boats stationed on 
Bangka were using their "over-the-horizon" navigation system 
to expand their normal patrol area.  The crews spotted a ship 
that looked suspicious so they boarded it.  The boat was 
originally a fishing vessel that had been converted into a 
 
JAKARTA 00000334  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
tanker to haul illegal fuel from Indonesia to Malaysia.  The 
crew was arrested and brought back to Bangka for further 
interviewing.  The new patrol boats made the seizure possible 
due to their ability to patrol beyond the confines of coastal 
areas.  The training the crew had received from the 
INL-funded program also was essential. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) A BIG PLUS FOR THE GOI:  Although the 15 patrol 
boats provided by the USG are not large vessels (about 30 
feet in length), their seaworthiness and advanced navigation 
systems give the Marine Police greater flexibility to search 
larger areas of both fresh water and ocean water within the 
17,000 islands that make up Indonesia.  The Marine Police 
crews now have the equipment and training to aggressively 
search for incidents of transnational crime in parts of the 
country that were previously difficult to routinely monitor. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In the short time since deployment of the boats, 
not all of which are even yet operational, the boats have 
clearly made a dramatic difference.  We see this as just the 
beginning of what we expect will be a significant up-tick in 
interdictions and seizures.  These new capabilities will also 
be useful for the GOI in anti-terrorist and anti-piracy 
operations. 
 
HUME