Hong Kong police have arrested two men and are looking for a third after they stole around 600 toilet paper rolls, amid shortage fears due to the coronavirus.
According to a police spokesperson, the three men stole about 50 packs of toilet paper rolls, containing approximately 600 rolls in total, outside a supermarket in the city's Mong Kok district.
A delivery worker transported the goods early Monday morning and placed it outside the supermarket before the three men stole them. The police found the tissue rolls several hours later in a nearby guesthouse and arrested two of the men.
A robbery investigation is currently being conducted by the police as they search for the third suspect. The incident comes amid fears of supply shortages in Hong Kong as the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.
The city government called on residents not to panic buy and tried to reassure the public that the supply chain would not be cut off but was not heeded. Videos online depicted how crowds of people at supermarkets across the city struggle to purchase toilet paper rolls.
Photos have also surfaced on social media showing barren shelves and empty aisles inside supermarkets as they sold out entirely of toilet rolls, food staples, and other crucial goods.
According to Gilly Wong, the head of Hong Kong's Consumer Council, the panic buying had caused price increases in toilet rolls and discounted offers to be removed. The Hong Kong government has expressed its condemnation of "rumor mongers with evil intentions" who had sparked the panic.
The government has assured that measures, such as travel restrictions and border closures, "will not affect the freight services between the mainland and Hong Kong." It added: "There is no need for the public to worry."
To address panic buying, Wellcome as well as other supermarkets have implemented limits on how many units of an item customers can buy at a time.
