4 Perpetrators of Mixing 12.5 Kg Gas Cylinders to 3 Kg at the Pertamina Padang LPG Official Base Arrested

Seller of subsidized LPG Pertamina gas cylinders. (Between-Rendhik Andika)

WEST Sumatra - West Sumatra Regional Police revealed the case of mixing subsidized Pertamina LPG gas in the city of Padang.

Head of Public Relations of the West Sumatra Police, Commissioner Dwi Sulistyawan, said the mixing was carried out by transferring the contents of a 3 kg subsidized LPG gas cylinder to a 5.5 kg and 12.5 kg non-subsidized gas cylinder.

The actors then sell them to the public at non-subsidized prices.

The mixing of gas cylinders was carried out at the official subsidized Pertamina LPG gas base in Koto Tangah District, Padang City, Wednesday 15 February.

From the disclosure of this case, the West Sumatra Regional Police arrested four perpetrators, each woman with the initials SY (41) as the owner of the gas base, two operators with the initials B and N, and a middleman with the initials EA.

He said, as the owner of the subsidized Pertamina LPG LPG gas base, SY found it easier to carry out this action.

"This gas was transferred by modifying the regulator, after it was finished it was transferred to a 5.5-kilogram gas cylinder and the 12.5 kilograms was closed with a fake seal so it looked as if it was genuine," he said.

The Director of the Special Criminal Investigation Unit for the West Sumatra Regional Police, Commissioner Adip Rojikan, said that by moving the contents of subsidized LPG gas to non-subsidized ones, SY would get a bigger profit.

"The profit can be doubled and the owner of the gas base can also sell it directly and sell it to EA which has a kiosk," he said.

He said, SY had been carrying out this adulteration for quite a long time and from the suspect's confession since March 2022 or it had been almost a year before he was arrested.

"We confiscated dozens of LPG cylinders of various sizes from subsidized and non-subsidized ones," he said.

He said SY, B and N were charged with Article 40 point 9 of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 2 of 2022 concerning Job Creation for Amending the provisions of Article 55 of Law Number 22 of 2001 concerning Oil and Natural Gas.

Meanwhile, EA was charged with Article 480 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 55 of Law Number 22 of 2001 concerning Oil and Natural Gas which was added and amended in paragraph 5 of Article 40 paragraph 9 of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation.

"These perpetrators are threatened with imprisonment for a maximum of six years and a maximum fine of IDR 60 billion," he said.