In the run-up to the government’s planned fuel price hike, the police are intensifying raids against hoarders, and three key labor organizations are warning of massive street protests.The price of subsidized low-octane gasoline is set to rise 33 percent in April and fears of resulting inflation are beginning to see hoarding of fuel as well as other goods.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said on Monday that the police had arrested 596 people this year for involvement of 508 cases fuel hoarding totaling more than 1.5 million liters of fuel.
He said there had been cases of people hoarding diluted fuel, unsubsidized Pertamax gasoline and used lubricating oil and mixed oils.
“There have been 97,750 trucks confiscated too,” he said, in addition to more than 140 other vehicles used in the hoarding, ranging from motorcycles to canoes and barges. Read More
