One of Venezuela’s most well-known drugstore chains, Farmatodo, has come under government scrutiny. The company’s top executives have been imprisoned as the government blames them for the long lines and food shortages plaguing the nation.

On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took to state television to inform the nation that the owners of a well-known store chain in Venezuela were under investigation, reports BBC.

“Yesterday we detected that a famous chain of stores was conspiring, irritating the people," Maduro said. "We came, we normalized sales, we summoned the owners, we arrested them, and they're prisoners for having provoked the people.”

Maduro accused the owners of Farmatodo for reducing the number of cashiers at a store to create long lines. The Venezuelan president had previously warned that anyone colluding against the Venezuelan people would “pay with time in prison.”

Panorama reports Ernesto Villegas, the chief of the economic battle in Caracas, has begun an investigation into Faramatodo.

According to Bloomberg, the government jailed the executives of Farmatodo, which owns almost 200 stores throughout Venezuela, for committing economic crimes, the information ministry spokesperson said. Among the arrested is Chief Executive Officer Pedro Luis Angarita as well as two other top managers and none have had access to lawyers.

“I’m not sure the government is aware of what it is starting,” Freddy Ceballos, president of the Venezuelan Pharmacy Federation, said. “This is a threat to the private sector, even to those who are working with the government.”

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles reiterated the same intention on Twitter.

“Faramatodo has been an example of private industry success; the consequences go further than this chain; we are talking about what little is left," he said in Spanish.

Similarly, the wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, Lilian Tintori, also expressed solidarity with the chain on Twitter:.

“We are with you, Farmatodo, with your workers and families. Today you’re suffering from a direct attack from a government that cares little of its people!”

The company also released a statement via Panorama in which they explained the recent hardships of placing products on the shelves as well as their collaboration with the government and the community.

“Farmatodo’s behavior is well-known and transparent, and we are always available to the authorities to investigate our operations, as we have been doing in the 60 inspections we have satisfactorily complied with during the month of January,” the statement said.

It remains uncertain whether the Venezuelan government will charge the Farmatodo executives; however, the government has threatened to nationalize the company.

Related