NTB Police Detain ASN Pengoplos 15 Tons Of Rice

Members of the NTB Police Food Task Force examined piles of rice sacks suspected of being mixed/ANTARA HO Polda NTB

The West Nusa Tenggara Regional Police detained a state civil servant with the initials NA for the follow-up to the title of determination of a suspect in the alleged practice of mixing rice under the fake brands of Rice Medium, Beraskita, and SPHP.

"The suspect NA is being held at the NTB Police Detention Center," said Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the NTB Police, Kombes FX. Endriadi, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, August 8.

The NTB Police have implemented criminal charges against NA with Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection, Law Number 7 of 2014 concerning Trade, and Law Number 20 of 2016 concerning Marks and Geographical Indications.

This case was first revealed from the field investigation as a result of follow-up information from the buyer community who doubted the quality and quantity of SPHP and Beraskitadi rice branded in Mataram City.

The NTB Police Food Task Force team together with the NTB Bulog then carried out a raid on Wednesday (30/7) in the warehouse where the ASN mixed rice, namely at BTN Dasan Geres Regional Government, West Lombok Regency.

From the location of the raid, the task force found evidence related to the alleged mixing of rice, ranging from production equipment, illegal packaging sacks, and thousands of kilograms of rice suspected of being the result of mixing.

Dari hasil pemeriksaan, NA mengaku sudah menjalani bisnis ini sejak dua bulan lalu dan telah berhasil menjual sekitar 15 ton beras hasil oplosan ke berbagai toko di Kota Mataram.

"The mode is simple but detrimental, buying good rice and menir from mills in Central Lombok and West Lombok, and buying rice from collectors at Pagutan Market," he said.

The rice purchased was mixed with a ratio of three good quality rice sacks with one menir sack.

Mixed results are then repackaged into the SPHP, Beraskita, and BerasMedium brands with a volume of 5 kilograms. Sales are made using a door to door marketing system using pickup vehicles.

"The profit per package of 5 kilograms is around Rp. 1,500 to Rp. 2,000. But the price paid by the community is not proportional to the quality. This is clearly a fraud and seriously endangers public confidence in the national food program," he said.

From the results of field action, the police confiscated 3,525 kilograms of mixed rice in various packaging, 4,277 sacks of SPHP, Beraskita, and BerasMedium brands, 14,000 empty ready-to-use packages, and production equipment such as blower machines, ayakan, sewing machines for packaging, shovels, and scales.