A private company apparently carried out corona tests with reused chopsticks on thousands of travelers at an Indonesian airport.
Corona tests at airports are now common practice worldwide.
But what happened in the Indonesian city of Medan is speechless: Employees of a private company are said to have used the corona test sticks several times on travelers at the airport.
The tests are mandatory before departure in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The employees apparently saw the perfect opportunity to make money with it.
Company wants to make a profit with reused corona tests
As reported by the BBC, the police assume that the private company "Kimia Farma" has been
carrying out corona tests
with reused corona test sticks
at Kualanamu Airport in Indonesia
since December
.
Up to 9,000 passengers could be affected by this fraud.
Police discovered the company after several passengers complained about false positive test results.
An officer then had himself tested undercover at the test station - where he received a positive corona result.
The police then discovered a used test kit during a raid that was reused.
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Over 100,000 euros in profit from false corona tests at the airport
Meanwhile, five employees of "Kimia Farma" and the regional manager have been arrested, as reported by the BBC.
The profit that the fraudsters made with their scam is put at the
equivalent of 103,000 euros
.
The police are investigating whether the money should be used to build an opulent home for one of the suspects.
"Kimia Farma" has since released the defendants and announced that they want to strengthen internal controls.
It is not clear whether the wrong procedure by the employees resulted in the virus being transmitted to other people in addition to the incorrect test results.
No specific cases are known to date.
However, lawyers are now preparing a class action lawsuit so that the air travelers concerned receive compensation.
(fk)
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