POLICE CLAMP DOWN ON ILLEGAL FUEL DEALDERS AT TOR (DAILY GRAPHIC, JUNE 11, SPREAD)

A joint team of Police and the Regional Fire Service personnel drawn from the Tema Region has seized a total of 39 jerrycans and two drums of petroleum products in an operation to clamp down on illegal fuel dealers in various tanker yards around the Tema Oil Refinery.
The products, including Super, Argo and Paraffin Oil, were seized in a swoop conducted by the team in an attempt to clamp down on the activities of fuel siphoning syndicates, popularly known as “belebele boys”.
The “belebele boys” are known to siphon petroleum products from fuel tankers that often load products from the refinery, dilute and sell them to operators of filling stations across the country.
The exercise follows persistent fire outbreaks in the area which has posed considerable danger to the refinery. When the team got to one of the yards located at the Tema Light Industrial Area, near the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority offices, operators abandoned various drums, containers and a tanker used in carting the goods and took to their heels, scaling the six-feet wall around the yard.
Further checks in the yard revealed broken tanker seals, an Opel vehicle with registration number GV 8200 C, as well as gallons containing diluted products hidden in the yard.
Briefing newsmen after the exercise, the Public Relations Officer of the Tema Regional Fire Service, Mr Prince Anaglate, noted that the operation was to reduce fire incidents within the region.
He noted that the activities of fuel siphoning syndicates operating in the metropolis had been identified as the major cause of industrial fire in the region; hence the urgency for the exercise as a measure to limit these occurrences.
Mr Anaglate observed that these activities did not only undermine the activities of the nation’s only oil refinery but also posed great danger to the nation, saying, “If the refinery is on fire, the whole nation would be reduced to ashes.”
He said investigations were being undertaken to unravel the brains behind the tanker yards visited for them to be questioned and possibly prosecuted, noting that the operation would be extended to parts of Ashaiman and Afienya, which are said to be operational hideouts for the groups.
The seized products currently in the possession of the Fire Service officials would be handed over to laboratory personnel at TOR for testing.