Police Arrest 3 Groups Hoarding Ivermectin, Oxygen Tanks

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Metro Jaya Police Inspector General Mohammad Fadli Imran on Thursday announced the arrest of three groups hoarding Ivermectin and medical oxygen tanks in Jakarta. The people were arrested following a police raid on drug stores and distributors. 

“We arrested Covid-19 medicine hoarders of Avigan, Ivermectin, and oxygen tanks. They are all being processed currently,” said the Metro Jaya Police inspector on July 8.

Police managed to detect suspicious activities after investigating the upstream and downstream distribution of the highly demanded coronavirus medicines. They will also closely monitor the market and make sure private sellers do not sell the medicines exceeding the government’s highest retail price. 

The inspector also said that the raid was a product of the direct instruction from Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in a virtual meeting on Monday evening. 

The minister, who is responsible in overseeing the Emergency PPKM in Java and Bali, specifically ordered law enforcers to arrest Covid-19 medicine hoarders. The Minister’s main concern is mainly driven by the prices of Ivermectin and other medicines that are believed to treat Covid-19 patients in self-isolation that are starting to hike in the market. 

Read also: Hoarding of Medicines, Oxygen is Crime Against Humanity, says Govt

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH