Profiteering amid COVID-19: 2 suspects nabbed in Isabela city

A police operation on Wednesday (Apr. 1) nets two suspected profiteers who sold alcohol worth normally P5,600 for P12,000 in Cauayan City. PHOTO BY VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.

CAUAYAN CITY—The campaign against hoarding and profiteering continued on Wednesday (April 1), leading to the arrest in the city of a man and a woman who fell in a buy-bust operation involving rubbing alcohol.

Police arrested Maria Claudette Lorenzo, 29, and Lorenzo Mangorit, 27, after they handed over two gallons of isopropyl alcohol in exchange for P12,000 to an undercover policeman.

The amount of alcohol that Lorenzo and Mangorit handed over normally costs only P5,600, according to Col. Arthur Marcelino, head of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Isabela province.

Lorenzo and Mangorit could not present documents showing they were licensed to sell medical supplies. They were charged with overpricing medical supplies amid a shortage because of COVID-19.

Edited by TSB

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