Police press charges against dishonest pharmacist who was making costumers pay 800% more than the actual cost of hand sanitizer, gloves, and masks

While the coronavirus pandemic is spreading across the world, many have taken it upon themselves to help their neighbors out and bring a little bit of cheer to those who are less fortunate. For every Yin, there is however a yang. Instead of helping others out, there are some who would rather take advantage of the situation and make a profit off of people's fears. 

One pharmacist in particular was caught upcharging clients up to 800% more than the retail price for items like gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, and masks. Items which, due to the coronavirus emergency, have become scarce and even hard to find.  

via ilmessaggero.it

Thanks to several concerned citizens, who reported the pharmacist to the local authorities, police were able to pin down the pharmacy's location, which was located in Via Nazionale in downtown Rome. They ended up pressing charges against the pharmacist and the pharmacy's owner for the outrageous surge prices they placed on goods related to the crisis. 

To give some examples of how much they were charging for these items, bottles of hand sanitizer that normally cost 3 euros were priced as 33 euros; gloves that cost 3 euros as early as two weeks prior became 14.99 euros.  

Police also discovered that the accused had also bought similar items from nearby stores in the hopes of selling them for a profit in their own store once supplies in the city became more and more scarce. A small bottle of hand sanitizer that they bought for 81 cents became 8 euros in the span of just a couple days. 

Operating a store in this way is not just illegal, but shameful. It's a good thing the citizens of Rome weren't about to let the owner and the pharmicist take advantage of them. As for the pharmacist and his accomplice, looks like they got exactly what they deserved.