The Jakarta Metro Police arrested a 19-year-old university student in Jakarta for allegedly stockpiling masks and selling them at jacked up prices.
According to the police, the suspect, who is identified by her initials THF, sold fashion and beauty products online. She recently decided to sell face masks following the huge demand generated for the item amid the coronavirus scare.
“The suspect admitted that she sold the goods to help pay for college,” Jakarta Metro Police spokesman Yusri Yunus told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Liputan 6.
Yusri said that TFH was caught in the lift of her apartment building as she was carrying up three boxes of face masks. A subsequent search of her apartment revealed that she was stockpiling some 350 boxes of face masks, which she was going to sell for up to IDR350K (US$24.73) each. Each box generally contains up to several dozens of single-use face masks.
TFH was charged with stockpiling an essential good and driving up its price in times of emergency, which is punishable by up to five years in prison in accordance with Indonesia’s trade laws.
At the request of President Joko Widodo, police began a nationwide crackdown on stockpilers of face masks and other essential goods following Monday’s announcement of the first COVID-19 cases in Indonesia. In one of the biggest busts yesterday, police in Tangerang recovered some 11 thousand boxes of face masks at a warehouse in Tangerang, which were also going to be sold at hugely marked up prices.
Other stockpiled products that police have recovered include hand sanitizers and groceries.
