Indonesian police seize 60,000 stockpiled face masks

INDONESIA-CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS

An Indonesian police officer (R) stands next to seized boxes of face masks prior to a press conference at the North Jakarta police headquarters in Jakarta on March 5, 2020. - Indonesian police seized over half a million face masks from a Jakarta-area warehouse after the country's first confirmed cases of coronavirus sparked panic buying and sent prices for prevention products skyrocketing. (Photo by BAGUS SARAGIH / AFP) (Photo by BAGUS SARAGIH/AFP via Getty Images)

An Indonesian police officer (R) stands next to seized boxes of face masks prior to a press conference at the North Jakarta police headquarters in Jakarta on March 5, 2020. (Photo by BAGUS SARAGIH / AFP) (Photo by BAGUS SARAGIH/AFP via Getty Images)

Police in Indonesia seized over 60,000 masks and apprehended two people suspected of stockpiling the goods in two separate raids in Jakarta on Thursday.

Officers have carried out several raids in the past few days on individuals who have “attempted to gain financial benefits” during the coronavirus outbreak, reported Indonesia’s state news agency Antara.

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Yesterday, Indonesia’s security minister Mohammad Mahfud told journalists police would enforce “criminal law against those engaged in panic buying,” and that “the government classifies rush for and hoarding goods for the sake of profit-making into an act of economic subversion.”

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