Police seize 376 tons of hoarded kerosene in three provinces

Police seize 376 tons of hoarded kerosene in three provinces

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The police seized 376 tons of hoarded kerosene in West and East
Java on Friday and arrested dozens of speculators who hoped to
profit from expected fuel price hikes.

Of the 376 tons of hoarded kerosene, 296 tons were seized in
West Java, 15 tons in East Java and 65 tons in East Kalimantan.
The police, in cooperation with state oil and gas company
Pertamina and the Attorney General's Office, have also staged
raids in other provinces, but there was no information on the
amount of kerosene confiscated from fuel speculators in these
provinces.

The police also arrested dozens of distributors guilty of
hoarding the basic commodity and several security personnel who
backed them.

The police confiscated thousands of tons of hoarded kerosene
in numerous regions after Pertamina offered the police 50 percent
of the confiscated kerosene as an incentive for them to capture
hoarders and help put an end to the widespread shortage.

Sr. Comr. Sardjono, chief of the Cirebon City Police, denied
that the police had launched the antihoarding operation to
receive the incentive.

"The incentive offered by Pertamina has no direct relation to
the operation launched by the police to fight hoarding. It is our
main task to crack down on hoarding fuel, which has created
serious unrest among the people across the country," he said in
Indramayu on Friday.

He said the local police had confiscated more than 500 tons of
hoarded kerosene and arrested nine distributors who stored it in
their underground tanks.

"We will process the speculators who are being investigated in
accordance with the law," he said, adding that several security
personnel had also been arrested for backing hoarders.

He said the suspects faced possible six-year jail sentences
and fines of Rp 60 million in accordance with Law No. 22/2001 on
energy.

Sardjono acknowledged that hoarding fuel had caused a chain
reaction that had affected local people. "Besides increasing
difficulties for the people to cook and to have lighting, it has
also caused hikes in the prices of other basic commodities," he
said.

He cited that besides having to purchase items at high prices,
local people had to queue for hours every day to buy kerosene at
outlets in traditional markets and at distributor outlets.

"The price of kerosene has risen drastically to between Rp
1,500 and Rp 2,000, but the normal price is only Rp 515 per
liter. It is ironic that the price of kerosene is higher than
that of premium gasoline, which is sold at Rp 1,450 per liter,"
he said.

The government will increase fuel prices by between 20 percent
and 30 percent later this month.

In Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Adj. Sr. Comr. Kodirum Karya,
chief of the Balipapan Police station, said besides arresting
eight speculators, the local police had also confiscated 65 tons
of kerosene and diesel fuel in underground tanks.

He said Hartoyo and Ponimin, who hoarded diesel fuel and
kerosene in their house, were being interrogated and their
dossiers would be handed over to the local Attorney General's
Office to be processed in accordance with the law.

Ponimin denied hoarding 25 tons of diesel fuel he bought from
several gas stations in the town. "I bought the diesel to be
supplied to a number factories in town," he said.

In Surabaya, East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutanto said
the police had confiscated more than 400 tons of hoarded kerosene
in several regencies in the province.

"Today (Friday), we seized a total of 15 tons of hoarded
kerosene in Jombang, Gresik and Surabaya and arrested 11
speculators," he said.

The people were arrested because they lacked the necessary
permits from the local Pertamina office to store more than one
ton of kerosene, he said.

In Medan, North Sumatra, National Police chief Gen. Da'i
Bachtiar said the police had arrested 80 people allegedly
involved in hoarding fuel in various provinces this week.

"The police will not tolerate the practice of hoarding, which
has created serious unease in society," he said, adding that the
police would also take strict measures against policemen found
guilty of backing up the practice.