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Three alleged garlic smugglers arrested
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A worker inspects garlic stocks held in state logistic agency Bulog's Jakarta and Banten division warehouse in North Jakarta on May 17. As of that date, Bulog held 62 tons of garlic and ordered the importation of more garlic to stabilize prices during Ramadhan. (JP/Stefani Ribka)
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griculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has said that three alleged smugglers and hoarders of garlic were arrested at warehouses in Marunda, North Jakarta.
Hundreds of tons of garlic were seized by the Jakarta city police during the raid on Wednesday. The commodity was suspected of having been smuggled into Indonesia from China and India and was stockpiled at the North Jakarta warehouse.
“The [import] permits of the three have been revoked [by the trade minister],” said Amran after a meeting with Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasutition and Trade Minister Enggartiasto "Enggar" Lukita in Jakarta on Thursday.
Amran claimed more people who were being accused of playing with garlic stocks would likely be arrested. However, he declined to explain the details of the arrest plan.
The price of garlic in Jakarta has surged to Rp 70,000 (US$5.26) per kilogram in the last few days, up from Rp 40,000 per kilogram in January, hargapangan.id shows.
The price increase has been blamed on the hoarding undertaken by certain importers of the commodity.
Enggar threatened to revoke the permits of other importers if they were found hoarding the commodity to try to push up prices. (bbn)
