Indonesian tax drone takes off

Singapore

THE tax drone cometh. Above the vast forests of oil-palm and rubber trees in Sumatra and the scattered tin mines on islands to its east, the Indonesian government is flying unmanned aircraft to catch cheats who under report the size of their plantations or the extent of their mineral extraction.

"Mines and plantations make good profits just taking stuff from nature," said Samon Jaya, head of the tax office in South Sumatra and Bangka-Belitung islands. "But they don't pay enough tax. This has to stop."