Organized Economic Crime in Illegal Import Supply Chains in Indonesia: An Economic Criminology Analysis of the Role of the Indonesian National Police

Abstract

This article reframes illegal importation in Indonesia as organized economic crime and asks how the Indonesian National Police can position itself strategically along the illegal-import supply chain to disrupt it. Drawing on economic criminology, the Business Enterprise paradigm, and the analysis of illicit supply chains, it argues that the activity is an enterprise operating across distinct stages and not a customs offense committed at the point of entry. A conceptual and integrative literature review maps the chain from foreign origin to online distribution, locates the economic incentives at the customs node, and overlays the jurisdictional boundary that separates the Directorate General of Customs and Excise from the police. The police operate downstream of where incentives form, so seizure-led enforcement displaces the modus operandi without reducing volume. The article synthesizes these propositions into a framework that positions police intervention points along the chain and finds the highest leverage in the revenue and asset-recovery tiers and in shared intelligence, not in downstream prosecution. The claims stand as analytical propositions for empirical testing in subsequent research.