Mbanza Kongo – A total of 1.225 liters of fuel (gasoline and diesel) were seized this Tuesday, by the National Police, in the municipality of Soyo, Zaire Province, as part of actions to combat smuggling.
According to the spokesperson for the Provincial Command of the National Police, Luís Bernardo, who spoke to ANGOP, the seizure occurred in the Mpululu river channel, following patrolling actions by the customs tax police, along the course of the Zaire river.
He explained that the product, confined in 25-liter drums, was being transported via artisanal vessels bound for the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The spokesperson for the National Police in Zaire said that the person responsible for the smuggling fled when police authorities approached his boat.
Fuel smuggling, a rapidly growing phenomenon in Zaire and whose perpetrators attempt, at all costs, to outwit the police forces responsible for protecting the border with the DRC, worries local government authorities.
This illegal business, which is quite profitable, results in enormous losses for the Angolan State, which continues to subsidize the prices for fuel sales in the national territory.
Smugglers, in their action, use clandestine routes, also known as “fiote paths”, to cross the border with huge quantities of drums transported in artisanal or three-wheeled motorized boats.
The province of Zaire shares a 310-kilometer land and river border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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