GORONTALO - Directorate of Special Criminal Investigation (Ditreskrimsus) of the Gorontalo Police revealed a case of repackaged cooking oil with the Minita brand, which was resold at a higher price.
Director of Criminal Investigation at the Gorontalo Police, Kombes Pol Maruly Pardede, said that in the disclosure of the case, his party had arrested four people who had been named suspects.
"The evidence that we secured today is approximately 9,000 liters or about 9 tons of subsidized cooking oil, from two different locations," Maruly said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, March 11.
The disclosure of the case, he said, began with a market surprise inspection carried out by the Ditreskrimsus, together with the Department of Industry and Trade (Disperindag), as well as the Gorontalo Provincial Food Security Service.
During the market inspection, the joint team found a shortage of subsidized cooking oil with the Minita brand, even before the month of Ramadan.
After conducting an investigation, his party received information about the activity of repacking or repackaging subsidized cooking oil, from the package labeled Oilita to a bottle of mineral water, in the Boalemo Regency area.
Based on this information, he said, his party immediately went to the location and managed to arrest two people who were carrying out cooking oil repackage activities at one of the shops owned by another suspect.
It did not stop there, after carrying out developments, his party again arrested one other shop owner who was carrying out the same activity.
The modus operandi of the perpetrators, he said, was to buy subsidized cooking oil with a label of 1 liter of oil in large quantities, then copied into bottles of mineral water measuring 600 and 1,500 milliliters.
Furthermore, the cooking oil was resold at the above price from the highest retail price, namely at a price difference of Rp. 4,000 from the government subsidy price.
For a size of 600 milliliters, which costs Rp. 9 thousand, the perpetrators sold it at a price of Rp. 11 thousand, while the bottle packaging measuring 1,500 milliliters, which costs Rp. 24 thousand, was resold at a price of Rp. 28 thousand.
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From the confessions of the perpetrators, he said, they had been carrying out this activity since November 2024, and benefited greatly from the results of the business.
"Currently, four suspects have been detained at the Gorontalo Police Headquarters. They are threatened with being charged with multiple articles regarding the Consumer Protection and Trade Act," he added.
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