Seven arrested for hoarding fuel

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

At least seven people have been arrested for hoarding and selling fuel at higher prices than that set by the government.

City police natural resources crime unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Haydar said many fuel agents who were supposed to sell kerosene to households had chosen to sell the product to factories for a higher profit.

The government has set the price of kerosene for households at Rp 700 per liter and at Rp 2,200 per liter for industry.

Ahmad said many agents licensed to sell kerosene to households took advantage of the price gap by selling most of their stock to factories.

"We have arrested several agents who acted beyond their authority. We are also investigating several others. We have also arrested several who hoarded fuel to be resold at higher prices," he said.

The government raised fuel prices by an average of 29 percent on March 1, prompting unscrupulous agents to stockpile fuel in order to sell it at a higher price.

Many housewives, especially in Greater Jakarta, have complained that the price of kerosene was too high for them and they had to use firewood for cooking.

"The price of kerosene has reached Rp 1,200 or even Rp 1,500 per liter. Now, I must stop using one of my two kerosene stoves, and use wood to cook," Ella, 37, a housewife in Tanjung Barat, told The Jakarta Post.

Ahmad said the police were having difficulty catching agents who sold kerosene to businesses as they used pushcart vendors to sell their kerosene instead of tanker trucks to avoid suspicion.

"They can load around 250 liters of kerosene on one pushcart. They often employ dozens of vendors. We sometimes see the vendors sell kerosene to a factory, but we can't simply arrest them because they're just small-scale vendors," said Ahmad.

The seven suspects were arrested in different areas in Greater Jakarta. They were in the possession of hundreds of tons of fuel.

On Feb. 22, police arrested two agents for illegally selling and hoarding fuel. One man identified only as AG was arrested in Cipondoh, Tangerang, with five tons of kerosene while SG was apprehended in Bambu Apus, East Jakarta, with 30.5 tons of kerosene.

On Feb. 28, police arrested two other people, identified as SH and SG, for hoarding 20 tons of kerosene. On March 3, police detained a man only identified as SH in Jaka Sampurna, Bekasi, with more than 80 tons of kerosene, and another man in Cilincing, North Jakarta, identified as Ag with 30 tons of diesel oil.

Four people working at a gas station on Jl. Gatot Subroto, Pancoran, South Jakarta, were arrested for mixing Premium gasoline with kerosene and selling it as Pertamax.

All of them have been charged under Law No. 22 on oil and gas, which carries a maximum punishment of five years' imprisonment.

Ahmad said kerosene hoarding and selling it illegally partly explained why kerosene was difficult to find in some areas.

"Pertamina said it had deployed staff to monitor agents, distributors and retailers so that they sell their kerosene at the set price. We can help if any agents or distributors commit a crime," he said.