Surabaya Police Reveals Gang Of Bright Gas 12 Kg Injected With Subsidized LPG

Surabaya Police Chief Kombes Luthfie Sulistiawan showed evidence of abuse of subsidized LPG confiscated from the warehouse of agent/ANTARA/Hanif Nashrullah.

Surabaya Police revealed the circulation of a 12 kilogram Bright Gas containing subsidized LPG, after raiding an unauthorized agent's warehouse in Pasuruan Regency, East Java.

Surabaya Police Chief Kombes Luthfie Sulistiawan explained that the business owner with the initials AB only had many empty 12 kilogram Bright Gas tubes.

"The price of the tube is between IDR 150 to 280 thousand which is obtained from several sellers in the Pasuruan, Malang and Surabaya areas," he said in Surabaya, Thursday, December 11.

Each of the 12 kilograms of empty Bright Gas cylinders was then filled with subsidized LPG from four three kilograms of "melon" tubes, which per tube were obtained for Rp. 18 thousand from several bases and retailers in the Pasuruan area.

The 12 kilogram Bright Gas containing the subsidized LPG was then sold to the Pasuruan, Sidoarjo to Surabaya areas for IDR 120 thousand per tube.

At least per tube makes a profit of Rp. 20,000. Meanwhile, per day, on average, they are able to sell as many as 100 tubes.

Kombes Luthfie said AB, together with his gang, had been running this subsidized LPG abuse business for about five months, which meant it had made a profit of IDR 2.2 billion.

"Of course this is also a behavior that we must fight together. When the state is thinking about how to improve the welfare of the poor, there are groups like these suspects who think about personal benefits at the expense of the interests of small communities," he said.

In addition to AB, who is the mastermind of subsidized LPG abuse, a number of his accomplices have been arrested, each with the initials SA, S and H, who act as distributors.

Meanwhile, a number of actors who played a role in moving the contents of the subsidized LPG from a 3-kilogram melon cylinder to an empty 12 kilogram Bright Gas tube are still at large and have been assigned to the wanted list (DPO).