Police seal three warehouses full of foodstuffs

TANGERANG (JP): Tangerang police and military district personnel have sealed three warehouses here suspected to be housing stockpiles of basic commodities withheld from the market.

The warehouses contained mainly milk, cooking oil, instant noodles and wheat flour.

One of the sealed warehouses, inspected by the joint police- military team led by Tangerang Police precinct deputy chief Maj. M. Iriawan accompanied by the head of the precinct's detective unit, Capt. Basuki, is owned by distributor PT Pangan Elok Mandiri on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Tangerang.

The officers found about 320,000 cans of milk of various quality there.

The company's warehouse, located behind its office building, reportedly did not look like a storage facility.

Residents of Greater Jakarta, which includes Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi, have complained over the last few weeks of a scarcity of basic commodities.

Prices of basic commodities have also skyrocketed. One 2,000 gram can of milk, sold at Rp 30,000 before the crisis which started in July, currently costs Rp 90,000.

The government has announced that hoarding goods deemed as one of the nine basic commodities is against the law.

The nine basic commodities are rice, sugar, salt, detergent, kerosene, synthetic fabric, unbleached clothe, cooking oil and salted fish.

"We will strike at any speculators who try to hoard their stocks," Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung said last month.

The officers checked warehouse invoices for the milk and questioned a number of PT Pangan Elok Mandiri employees.

An employee who asked not to be named said the company only sent one of its 10 trucks every day to supply milk to supermarkets.

The company said it decided to reduce its distribution rate because public purchasing power has been dropping.

The officers, deeming the reason unsatisfactory, sealed the warehouse.

Another warehouse, owned by PT Sekawan Pangan Jaya on Jl. Gading Elok in Serpong district, was also sealed yesterday after milk was found stockpiled there.

The third warehouse sealed yesterday is owned by PT Kumpul on Jl. Imam Bonjol. Officers found a large amount of instant noodles, hundreds of drums of cooking oil and hundreds of sacks of wheat flour.

The wife of PT Kumpul's owner, Mrs. Sena, denied that her warehouse was used to hoard the basic commodities.

"We distribute the goods to both retailers and wholesalers every day," she said.

She explained that customers who have bought regularly from her company for under one year were asked to pay a down payment before the goods were sent to them. Customers of over five years, including shopping centers, were allowed to pay in installments.

The team also inspected a fourth warehouse owned by PT Sumber Cisadane. The officers did not seal the warehouse because its owner, Tjahjadi, had a business permit issued by the Tangerang city administration authorizing him to sell goods directly to buyers.

"I serve the customers here. But because of falling public purchasing power, I put part of the goods in storage," said Tjahjadi.

Maj. Iriawan said the inspection was authorized by his superiors. Those found guilty of hoarding the commodities will be charged under existing regulations, he said. (41/hhr)