DELTA, B.C. — Police in Delta, B.C., say it was "troubling" to catch two people reselling boxes of respirators and surgical masks at highly inflated prices.
The local police department says in a news release that a constable found an online ad this week offering N95 respirators at $15 each, plus a $300 "delivery fee."
The officer arranged a meeting to buy 60 masks for a total of $1,200, and police say a Burnaby resident selling them arrived in a luxury vehicle on Thursday.
On Friday, police arranged to meet a separate vendor selling 3,000 surgical masks for $2,200.
Both sellers were given $500 bylaw tickets and voluntarily gave up the medical supplies to police, with the second seller relinquishing an additional 2,300 of them.
Delta police say they'll work with the Fraser Health authority to determine how the masks can best be put to use.
British Columbia's Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth issued an order last Sunday under the Emergency Program Act banning the secondary resale of medical supplies and personal protective equipment.
"It’s troubling to see people trying to flout the ministerial order during this pandemic,” Delta police spokesman Cris Leykauf says in the release.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2020.
The Canadian Press
