Man caught with fake insecticide stash
Man caught with fake insecticide stash
JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested a 22-year-old man late Monday
for allegedly manufacturing fake insecticide for sale to the
public under famous brand names, an officer said.
Head of the economic crimes unit Lt. Col. Saut Usman Nasution
said on Tuesday that Heng Kui, alias Anen, was apprehended at a
house on Jl. Serdang in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Police confiscated 32 boxes of insecticide fluid bottles
bearing the brand names Baygon and Hit. Each box contained 20
bottles.
Also seized were 31 cardboard boxes printed with the two
brandnames, six sacks of used Baygon plastic bottles, 18 drums of
kerosene, three drums containing a chemical liquid, two empty
drums and several wooden rods which were believed to be used for
mixing the liquids, Usman said.
Heng Kui told the media that he was hired by a man called
Aseng, a resident of the West Java capital of Bandung, for Rp
30,000 per day to mix the liquids and bottle the products.
"We produced about 30 boxes per day." He claimed to know
nothing about the distribution and sales of the products.
"Aseng takes care of everything," he said.
Aseng is still at large, Usman said.
The two, he said, had run their illegal business since March
and had distributed thousands of bottles in the greater Jakarta
area at a price of about Rp 9,000 each, compared to the retail
price of about Rp 13,000 for the genuine products.
According to Usman, it was difficult to distinguish the
genuine and the fake products at a glance. But he said the
fragrance and effects of the two were markedly different.
"The fake Baygon is not deadly to mosquitoes, and it only
makes people dizzy."
L. Tobing of PT Bayer Indonesia, which produces Baygon in
Indonesia, refused to comment on the arrest.
Usman said it was not the first case in the capital involving
adulteration or counterfeiting of well-known products.
"We have already found at least five similar cases for various
products here, and we believe that there are still more." (emf)