The Directorate General of Customs and Excise through the Soekarno-Hatta Type C Customs and Excise Main Service Office revealed the case of carrying thousands of Pokémon cards of fantastic value from passengers on an international flight on the Manila–Jakarta route. The action was carried out in the international arrivals area of Terminal 3 of Soekarno–Hatta International Airport on Friday (15/5/2026).
Head of the Soekarno-Hatta Customs Office, Hengky Tomuan Parlindungan Aritonang, revealed that officers found a total of 2,678 Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards consisting of 87 PSA Grade cards and 2,591 non-PSA Grade cards.
According to Hengky, the total value of goods that were secured reached around IDR 1.2 billion. From the results of calculating import duties and taxes on imports (PDRI), the potential state revenue from this case is estimated at IDR 333.4 million.
This case started with profiling activities and officers’ attention to passengers on flight PR535 on the Manila–Jakarta route. Officers then carried out monitoring from the time the passengers got off the plane until the luggage inspection process on the red line in the international arrivals area.
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From the results of X-Ray and physical examinations, officers found thousands of high-value Pokémon cards stored in cabin suitcases and checked luggage without notification to Customs.
In the first action, officers found 1,310 Pokémon cards with a value of IDR 741.5 million and potential state revenue of around IDR 204.6 million. Meanwhile, the second action succeeded in securing 1,368 Pokémon cards with a value of around IDR 466.3 million and potential state revenue of IDR 128.7 million.
Hengky explained that Pokémon cards in the PSA Grade category have very high economic value because they have gone through a grading or quality certification process by an international assessment agency. The higher the grading value, the more expensive the card will be on the global collector market.
Customs and Excise emphasized that collectible items such as trading cards still have to be notified if they are brought from abroad and their value exceeds the import duty exemption limit for passenger luggage.
These provisions refer to Minister of Finance Regulation Number 34 of 2025 which is an amendment to PMK Number 203 of 2017 concerning the export and import of luggage of passengers and crew members of transport facilities.
In this regulation, international passengers still receive import duty exemption facilities of up to 500 US dollars per person for each arrival. However, if the quantity or value of goods is deemed unreasonable for personal use and leads to commercial purposes, then the goods can be treated as general imports and subject to taxes and import duties in accordance with applicable regulations.
Soekarno-Hatta Customs and Excise emphasized that supervision of international passengers’ luggage will continue to be tightened, especially for high-value collectibles such as Pokémon cards, which have recently become increasingly popular among Indonesian collectors.
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