The Indonesian Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) seized a total of 2,082,039 units from 956 items of illegal imported beauty products from a warehouse in the Kelapa Dua District area, Tangerang Regency, on Friday, June 5, 2026.
Based on Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health, BPOM conducted simulations estimating potential state losses reaching IDR 4.78 trillion from these illegal products originating from China.
This value is the result of multiplying the 965 violations found by the highest nominal fine of IDR 5 billion per item.
“They did not pay taxes, they did not pay various other fees, the economic value of the risk of state loss is 5 billion. If multiplied by 956 types of items, you can imagine how large the punishment or fine we can impose,” explained the Head of BPOM, Taruna Ikrar, at the location.
Furthermore, the circulation of these 2,082,039 illegal cosmetics also has the potential to harm the public by IDR 27.6 billion. It is known that these products were marketed online through digital platforms at an average price of IDR 8,000 per unit.
Taruna added that these imported cosmetic commodities without distribution permits also threaten the stability of the national economy, especially the sustainability of the domestic cosmetics industry.
“Now, this is also our determination to ensure and maintain a healthy and fair business climate for business actors who comply with regulations,” he added.
He stated that besides material losses, the circulation of these illegal cosmetics can also endanger public safety, especially for users of beauty products. This is because these products do not have official distribution permits from BPOM.
“These do not have permits, they do not even have content, and we do not know what the contents of all these are,” he said.
In uncovering this illegal cosmetics case, BPOM also cooperated with the Criminal Investigation Unit (Bareskrim) of the Indonesian National Police.
Taruna explained that police officers have secured two individuals suspected of being involved in the network distributing these illegal cosmetics.
“One role is to deceive for sales through an online system, and the second role is as an importer,” he explained.
