12,000 gallons of smuggled fuel seized at Parika

Some 12,000 gallons of smuggled diesel, allegedly shipped by a popular Parika businessman, have been seized at a wharf in that East Bank Essequibo area by agents of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) on Saturday, 18th December. 

Up to press time, no one was arrested, and GEA officials have since removed the fuel via tankers belonging to the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GUYOIL).  An official of GEA told Guyana Times International that, since the theft of fuel markers back in September, enforcement officers have been relentless in finding the culprits and tightening their surveillance of suspected fuel smugglers.  The official could not say from where the fuel originated, but noted that it had come in to the Parika wharf on Friday, December 17th, and the GEA had moved in on Saturday, December 18th. 

The official said that, at around 08:00hrs on Saturday, a team of GEA inspectors visited the wharf to conduct a routine fuel examination exercise, during which they discovered a quantity of illegal diesel, totalling 10-12 gallons, stored on a floating four-compartment barge. According to the official, the team tested samples of the fuel and discovered it was illegal. Further instructions from the Chief Executive Officer of the GEA resulted in the fuel being secured by two teams. The official further stated that, on Sunday, 19th December, at around 09:00hrs, GUYOIL and GEA officials offloaded the illegal fuel into four tankers.

Although authorities have reported significant decrease in fuel smuggling, the illegal trade continues to flourish in the Parika and Pomeroon areas, where monitoring is often lax. When Guyana Times International visited Parika on Sunday, GEA officials were at the wharf offloading the fuel, and four Guyoil tankers were on scene to receive it. 

 Fuel markers’ theft 

At around 03:00hrs on Thursday, September 30, four masked gunmen stormed the GEA’s Quamina Street offices; and, after tying up two female guards, escaped with several cans of fuel markers. Police reviewed the footage from security cameras, but according to reports, the images were blurred. The GEA had said in a statement that the gunmen had entered the compound and had subdued the guards with handguns. They had then cut the locks on one of four 20-foot containers in the compound and had taken “two cans of the domestic marker concentrate used to mark fuel.” Following the theft, the composition of the fuel marker concentrate was modified, to detect any unauthorised use. 

Then, on Friday, November 12, police had reported that some of the stolen fuel markers were found at a Ruimveldt fish processing plant. Two men were taken into police custody but were later released. 

Fight fuel smuggling

In 2007, a Task Force on Fuel Smuggling and Contraband was convened to coordinate the efforts of the different law enforcement agencies in the fight against smuggling. Cooperation between the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard, and the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) resulted in the interdiction of several illegal shipments of fuel. The Guyana Police Force and the GDF Coast Guard have provided invaluable assistance in combating the illegal fuel trade, since GEA’s lack of capacity to traverse the waterways had been a bugbear to its interdiction efforts. GEA says it is therefore grateful to its sister agencies and the work of the task force in providing support facilities in this regard. 

GEA Chief Executive Officer Mahender Sharma reported earlier this year that, from January 01st to May 31, 2010, the agency had filed charges on 14 new cases of fuel smuggling. He also stated that government has recognised the ruinous effects of fuel smuggling on legitimate businesses and, in 2003, installed the fuel-marking strategy using state of-the-art technology, as a means of identifying illegal fuel.

GEA, he said, has been working indefatigably towards improving both the system and the human resource element of the anti-smuggling endeavours, and is encouraged by the steady development of the various enforcement activities.  Sharma contended that, when the system came into being in 2004, more than 30 per cent of fuel was smuggled into the country.  However, by the end of 2009, that figure was down to less than 10 per cent. He asserted that achieving this feat has been no easy task.  Sharma added that there are several other indicators that GEA’s enforcement activities have been yielding fruit.