The Head of Unit IV on Environmental Resources in Jakarta Police Department, Hilarius Duha, said the 13.28 tonnes of fuel consisted of 9.88 tonnes of diesel fuel and 3.4 tonnes of gas was seized from five perpetrators. “They are ZM, UN, MIM, YK, and GIB,” Duha mentioned the initials only.

The perpetrators pretexted that the fuel was stocked because they could not find any buyers. The modus operandi is quite similar for the last two months: filling the gas tanks of their vehicles only to transfer the fuel into jerry cans.

From January until March 25, Indonesian National Police had to deal with 232 cases of fuel stockpiling with 266 suspects. The Spokesman of Indonesian National Police Headquarter, Saud Usman Nasution, predicted the case will increase due to the fuel price hikes.

 

From religious point of view, Islam forbids the practice of stockpiling, since it causes more suffering to many people. “Stockpiling the fuel is haram (forbidden –Ed) because it cause suffering to many people,” the Chairman of PBNU, Said Aqil Siroj, said on Tuesday.

PBNU urges government to take firm step on the subjects. “The government must actively introduce legal consequences on fuel stockpiling,” he said.