Four arrested for selling face masks at inflated price

[webfact]

Four arrested for selling face masks at inflated price

By THE NATION

 

 

Four retailers have been arrested for selling sanitary face masks at prices higher than the standard price announced by the Central Committee for Prices of Goods and Services.

 

Ministry of Commerce permanent secretary Boonyarit Kanlayanamit said on Monday (February 10) that market inspections had been conducted outside Bangkok in 76 provinces by the Provincial Commerce Office and that as of February 9 four arrests had been made.

 

“Two of them are in Phuket, one in Chonburi and one in Surat Thani,” he said. “They were later handed over to the police and charged with violation of the Prices of Goods and Services Act. They face a maximum punishment of Bt140,000 fine or seven years’ imprisonment, or both.”

 

The permanent secretary added that provincial commerce officials had also advised retailers of face masks to strictly adhere to the regulations of the Prices of Goods and Services Act, which includes never raising the price without a proper cause and never hoarding the products when demand is high, as well as clearly displaying products’ prices on the shelves.

 

“Officials will survey the market in their respective provinces every day and monitor the price of face masks, sanitary hand gels and other medical supplies closely as per the order of Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit,” he said. “We have also established emergency response teams to act on tip-offs to the Provincial Commerce Office about overpricing of products immediately.”

 

Consumers can report any exploitation by manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers to the Department of Internal Trade hotline 1569.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30381886

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-02-10

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[Metropolitian]

-what- is the standard price?

 

711 sold them for 35thb, but production cost are just a small margin of that.

At the local market here they were sold for 100, not those paper wafers but fancy uns.

 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

They face a maximum punishment of Bt140,000 fine or seven years’ imprisonment, or both.”

Jeez people don't get that for many far greater crimes like DUI, physical assault even extreme violence , talk about an upside down back to front inside out law !!!

[TooBigToFit]

I noticed Big C had some stuff for this situation at the cashier. They put out handwash, three types of masks for 2.5 with two in a pack at 23 baht each. They also had masks in the house cleaning area. I was also at Mega and you could buy masks used in construction there as well as some typical paper masks that most people seem to be wearing. They had huge packs of cheap cloth masks probably holding 500 masks for 490 baht. They were at the cashier.  This is in Rangsit/Navanakorn area.

[JustAnotherHun]

Was it Anutin who got busted as he tried to sell the mask a racist farang refused at the airport?

Then out on bail and back to office?

[shy coconut]

13 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Jeez people don't get that for many far greater crimes like DUI, physical assault even extreme violence , talk about an upside down back to front inside out law !!!

Do you not understand the meaning of the words maximum punishment?

[RotBenz8888]

Increase the security at hospitals or they might get looted... 

[sammieuk1]

Keep letting the Chinese carriers in keep running out of masks and keep masks going up it price how hard can it be to understand????

[clarky cat]

Arn’t most goods in Thailand sold at an inflated price? More so in tourist areas

[TheDutchEngineer]

I am waiting 5 years for two hospital directors to be arrested for medical care at an inflated price! 

[fhickson]

what about selling fake ones?

 

those 3m n95 seem to be popular, most are fake and dont offer the protection people think they are getting.

 

its not all just fun and games when things get serious.

[BritManToo]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

They face a maximum punishment of Bt140,000 fine or seven years’ imprisonment, or both.”

But this time we'll let them off with a 500bht fine and a Wei.

[ChipButty]

Consumers can report any exploitation by manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers to the Department of Internal Trade hotline 1569.

Does this apply to anything I buy?

Only the other week I was charged 20 Baht extra for my chicken fried rice wont be going back there

While we are at it what about the hospitals charging for medication? thats extortion