Paris Police Detain Two Over Face Mask Hoarding

Paris police have detained two people on suspicion of hoarding face masks in defiance of a government decree ordering such products be turned over to authorities during the coronavirus outbreak, prosecutors said Friday

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Mar, 2020 ) :Paris police have detained two people on suspicion of hoarding face masks in defiance of a government decree ordering such products be turned over to authorities during the coronavirus outbreak, prosecutors said Friday.

So far four inquiries have been opened in the French capital after checks carried out since President Emmanuel Macron ordered the requisition of face masks in early March.

One in custody is a manager at a drugstore in the posh 16th district of the French capital, the other works at a travel agency where stocks of masks as well as sanitising hand gels were found.

"Pharmacists and drugstore managers need to know that we will be extremely vigilant and that we will prosecute," chief Paris prosecutor RemyHeitz told AFP.

He added that a worker at an organic grocery store in the Belleville neighbourhood was also facing prosecution after he was caught selling a stock of more than 15,000 face masks along with around 250 bottles of fake hydroalcoholic hand gel.