According to Inadec's general director, Diógenes de Oliveira, among those arrested by the police are two pharmacists last weekend and on Monday three shopkeepers, including a manager of a commercial area.
"For us, at the moment, we have no greater interest in imposing fines, what we want is to hold them criminally responsible and not administratively," he said, in statements to Lusa, guaranteeing to act "without contemplation" for the speculators.
Angola has three confirmed cases of infection by Covid-19 and the country is growing demand for protective material, including masks, gloves, detergents, alcohol gel, among others.
The National Institute for Consumer Protection registered last week numerous complaints of speculation in the prices of these products.
This Thursday, the director of Inadec reported that "although timid", speculation and the hoarding of food products continue, especially in Luanda, and with it actions to raise awareness also extend to the interior of the country to "inhibit the practice".
"We continue to fight to inhibit that this is a repeated practice by the traders themselves, taking advantage of this phase so that they can then enrich in a fraudulent manner damaging the interest of the consumer," he said.
In relation to the hoarding of products by traders, Diógenes de Oliveira noted that this is done with the purpose of creating monopolies, especially when there is scarcity, ensuring "heavy-handedness" towards the offenders.
"And we will act with all possible force through what is expressed in the Consumer Law and other provisions," he said.
