Mbanza Kongo - Camouflaging 25 and 200 litre plastic containers inside trucks loaded with sand has become one of the methods that fuel smugglers in Zaire province are using to transport petrol and diesel to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This new method involving dump trucks carrying sand from the municipality of Nzeto, 230 kilometres from the city of Mbanza Kongo, was discovered Sunday by the National Police in Zaire province, with the seizure of eight vehicles loaded with 75,000 litres of fuel for the RDC.
According to the spokesman for the Zaire Provincial Command of the National Police, Lieutenant Luís Bernardo, who was speaking to the press on Monday after the presentation of the product and the seized resources, the truck drivers supposedly buy the fuel at petrol stations in the town of Nzeto and then fill the lorries with sand in an attempt to deceive the police forces deployed along National Road 210.
He explained that during the operation, which included the involvement of various Interior Ministry bodies in the region, eight vehicles were seized, including three tipper lorries loaded with sand with several jerry cans of fuel inside, a 35,000 litre petrol tanker, two light vehicles loaded with more than 40 drums each and a flatbed truck.
He added that National Police detained eight alleged smugglers, both national and DRC citizens, who in the next few days will be forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
ANGOP found that a 25-litre container of petrol bought at a price of 7,500 kwanzas on national territory is sold on the black market in the DRC for 23,000 kwanzas.
The provincial governor of Zaire, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, called on the National Police to step up enforcement efforts to rigorously combat this phenomenon that is affecting the country, especially the national economy, adding that the fight against border crime, especially fuel smuggling, requires everyone's involvement to reduce it.
"We have to work together, fully comply with the law. There is no point in presenting a positive result today and then falling back into mediocrity tomorrow," he emphasised.
According to Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, one of the consequences of smuggling is the shortage of fuel at petrol stations in the city and the consequent rise in motorbike taxi fares.
The governor was speaking to journalists after inspecting the fuel and lorries seized by the National Police in the region at the Criminal Offences Investigation Department (DIIP) on Monday.
DA/JL/MRA
