Police Arrest 330 Individuals in Connection with Misuse of Subsidised Fuel and LPG

JAKARTA - Indonesian National Police have arrested and named 330 individuals as suspects in cases of misuse of subsidised fuels and LPG over the last 13 days, from 7 to 20 April 2026.

“Our efforts over these 13 days regarding the enforcement of fuel-related crimes have yielded results: we have secured 330 suspects across 223 crime scenes. This equates to approximately 223 police reports,” said Director of Specific Crimes at National Police Headquarters, Brigadier General M Irhamni, at the National Police Headquarters in South Jakarta on Tuesday (21/4/2026).

He detailed that the cases were uncovered across various regions, including Central Java Police (44 reports), East Java Police (41 reports), East Kalimantan Police (16 reports), Lampung Police (14 reports), and West Java Police (12 reports).

Other regions recorded smaller numbers.

In these revelations, police seized evidence including around 403,000 litres of diesel, 58,000 litres of Pertalite, and thousands of LPG cylinders of various sizes, from 3 kilograms to 50 kilograms.

Police also confiscated 161 four-wheeled and six-wheeled vehicles related to these cases.

Irhamni stated that the misuse of subsidised fuels and LPG posed a potential state loss of around Rp 243.07 billion over the 13 days.

The methods used by the perpetrators included repeatedly purchasing subsidised diesel at multiple fuel stations, then hoarding and selling it to the industrial sector.

There were also perpetrators using vehicles with modified tanks, fake licence plates, and misusing barcodes to evade supervision.

Additionally, practices of collusion with fuel station officials to obtain larger fuel quotas were found.

“The hope is to create a deterrent effect and trace all the assets enjoyed by the perpetrators,” he added.

For subsidised LPG, perpetrators transferred the contents of 3-kilogramme cylinders to non-subsidised 12-kilogramme and 50-kilogramme cylinders, then sold them to the industrial market such as restaurants and hotels.

“In safeguarding national energy sovereignty, we ensure that the subsidies provided by the state are truly enjoyed by those who are entitled,” said Irhamni.