Mozambique: Mobility is once again restricted in Hulene
Mozambique police arrest 12 for illegal fuel sales
12:14 CAT | 31 Aug 2017
TVM (File photo)
At least 12 people, including truck drivers and street vendors, were detained by Mozambique police in central Manica province for selling fuel illegally, the corporation said on Tuesday.
Fuel was being sold along routes linking inland African countries to the port of Beira.
Police had dismantled networks of illegal fuel traders on the roads between the cities of Beira and Tete and opened four criminal cases against the offenders in the first half of the year, Manica Police spokesman Leonardo Colher said.
The arrests were made in the districts of Gondola, Chimoio and Barue, along National Roads Six and Seven, which were very busy with long-distance truck drivers transporting fuel tanks to Mozambican provinces and Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Congo and Botswana.
Police say truck drivers load their cargoes in the port of Beira and, once on the road, fraudulently drain off fuel for street dealers, causing losses to employers, business owners and the Mozambican government in a dangerous process that also damages the asphalt.
The number of illegal fuel resale sites had declined, police says, improving “safety and physical integrity” on the roads.
Also Read: Seven arrested in tanker truck fuel robbery
Police say patrols will continue, since “it is not possible to stop this evil from one moment to the next”.
“We call on citizens to obey the rules concerning the buying and selling of fuels, and only do so in appropriate places, not clandestinely and without proper safety conditions,” he said.
The explosion of a tanker truck during a collective fuel robbery in Tete in November last year killed 115 people and injured dozens.
Also Read: Mozambique tanker explosion: Fuel theft took place over two days – AIM report
Source: Lusa
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