Police seal three warehouses full of foodstuffs

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)