Two distributors of bottled water have been arrested for raising the prices.

The chamber of commerce and industry says the distributors were acting contrary to an agreement reached with the water companies to reduce the prices earlier this week.

The companies raised the prices in the last few days, claiming they were not getting the US dollars they need to import raw materials for production.

“Now, the manufacturer has maintained it has gone back to the normal price because it had increased the price up to 24 pounds for a box,” Simon Akuei, Secretary-General for the Chamber of Commerce, explained to Eye Radio why they were detained.

“Now the factories have gone back to the normal price of 20 pounds and the seller is supposed to sell it at 20 pounds. So there is a deference of four pounds in the middle, of which we expect one pound will be logically consumed.

“That means, you as a seller, you will be getting 48 pounds from a box of 600 ml…and why should you get 48 pounds. For what reason why should you get that huge profit?”

About five water factories have stopped production due to scarcity of US dollars in the market.