Trader nabbed for selling fake gas regulator

MANILA, Philippines—Authorities have arrested a Filipino-Chinese suspected of peddling fake liquid petroleum gas (LPG) regulators, a police official said Friday.

Senior Superintendent Noli Romana, chief of the Anti-fraud and Commercial Crimes Division of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said Carlos Polican was arrested at around 2 p.m. at the Great City Enterprise in Libertad Street, Pasay City where he was selling fake Windtide Safety Regulator devices.

Police operatives acted on an arrest warrant on Polican for violating Section 168 in relation to Section 170 (Unfair Competition) of Republic Act 8293 and seized 402 pieces of the counterfeit devices worth P241,200.

Romana said that the fake LPG regulators were being sold for P300 while the original ones cost more than P800 each. He said they have yet to determine who was manufacturing the fake regulator as Polican was just selling them.

Complainant Alfonso Arsenal, who invented and patented the LPG regulator, surmised that he may have lost millions, pointing out that his product came out in 1993. He said that he sought to protect his reputation and to inform the public of the possible dangers of using fake LPG regulators.

Romana said that the fake LPG regulators had no patent number and had loose parts. “Buyers should think twice about buying cheap LPG regulators as they might leak.”

He said that concerned buyers may inform police at their hotline 411-9351 for information on establishments selling and manufacturing the fake LPG devices.