Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Po­lice have dis­cov­ered yet an­oth­er mil­lion-dol­lar fu­el-bunker­ing rack­et, op­er­at­ing about quar­ter of a mile from the St Mar­garet's Po­lice Sta­tion in Clax­ton Bay. More than 400,000 litres of diesel, val­ued at $.6 mil­lion, were seized and three men aged 18, 27 and 37, were ar­rest­ed. Last night, Coast Guard and Air Guard po­lice were pa­trolling the seas and skies to find the oth­er peo­ple in­volved in the scam.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said around 9.45 pm, In­sp Williams, Cpl Ram­lo­gan, PC Ram­cha­ran and PC Mo­hammed were on pa­trol when they heard the sound of a pump. When they in­ves­ti­gat­ed, they found a 40-foot con­tain­er al­most filled with diesel, in a fenced yard off the South­ern Main Road, Clax­ton Bay.

The spe­cial­ly adapt­ed con­tain­er was fash­ioned in­to a fu­el tank con­nect­ed to a gen­er­a­tor and diesel was be­ing pumped in­to a boat in the Gulf of Paria us­ing a 200-foot in­dus­tri­al hose. The op­er­a­tion, which po­lice sus­pect had been go­ing on for more than two years, is be­lieved to be part of a $4 bil­lion fu­el-bunker­ing rack­et. A source who re­quest­ed anonymi­ty said more than five derelict ves­sels in the Gulf are used to store sub­sidised fu­el, which is then sold to trawlers on the high seas.

Po­lice were un­able to ar­rest the oc­cu­pants of the get­away boat be­cause of the thick, sludgy man­groves. By the time they board­ed a boat and alert­ed the Coast Guard, the oc­cu­pants had fled. A truck be­long­ing to a com­pa­ny in Point Fortin and a 600,000-litre-ca­pac­i­ty con­tain­er were seized. The truck bore a fake li­cence plate and could not be traced in the Li­cens­ing Of­fice records.

The 18-year-old sus­pect, of Bal­main; a 27-year-old man, of Point Fortin; and a 37-year-old from Cou­va were ar­rest­ed and lat­er ques­tioned sep­a­rate­ly by po­lice. Cus­toms and Ex­cise of­fi­cers, as well as Min­istry of En­er­gy of­fi­cials, vis­it­ed the scene and spoke with fish­er­men, who com­plained of see­ing a sheen of diesel in the Gulf.

The fish­er­men called on the Gov­ern­ment to set up a spe­cial task force to deal with bunker­ing. A source said boat­loads of il­le­gal im­mi­grants were be­ing hired by the bunker­ing ring­lead­ers to run the il­le­gal trade.

Last Ju­ly, En­er­gy Min­is­ter Kevin Ram­nar­ine said a spe­cial dye would be mixed with sub­sidised diesel as a se­cu­ri­ty mea­sure to pre­vent the il­le­gal re­sale of the fu­el on the re­gion­al mar­ket. He said this would be im­ple­ment­ed at the end of the year. Ram­nar­ine said the penal­ties in the Pe­tro­le­um Pro­duc­tion Levy and Sub­sidy Act would al­so be re­viewed.

Sev­er­al weeks ago, po­lice in Matu­ra al­so bust­ed a fu­el rack­et. The fu­el, hid­den in large tanks in the bush­es near the beach, was be­ing trans­port­ed to cus­tomers on trucks. It came on the heels of an­oth­er bust in Sea Lots, where mil­lions of dol­lars' worth of diesel stored in large con­tain­ers was seized. It was said to be part of an il­le­gal re­sale rack­et.

Last year, Min­is­ter Ram­nar­ine said sub­sidised diesel, which is sold lo­cal­ly at $1.50 per litre, was stored for re­sale to for­eign­ers who should pay US$6, but pur­chased the sup­ply il­le­gal­ly at US$5 per litre.