Kolaka Police Seize 1.5 Ton Of Illegal Fuel

Kolaka, SE Sulawesi, Dec 26 (ANTARA) - The police of Kolaka district in Southeast Sulawesi province have so far seized a total of 1.5 tonnes of various types of illegal fuel from hoarding sites in several sub-districts this year. "Up to mid-December, we managed to seize a total of 1.5 tonnes of illegal fuel while conducting raids in several sub-districts this year," the chief of the crime division of Kolaka Police, AKP Agung Basuki, said here on Wednesday. According to official data, he stated, Pomalaa and Watubangga were the two sub-districts where illegal fuel hoarding was most rampant. "We have stored the evidence at Kolaka Police Office and are still interrogating the hoarders to obtain information about the source of the illegal fuel," Basuki said. He pointed out that the hoarders used different types of cars "with modified tanks designed to contain hundreds of litres of fuel". "One of the evidences collected from Pomalaa sub-district was a Feroza car that contained as much as 800 litres of diesel. And in Watubangga sub-district, our officers seized a car carrying 500 litres of diesel and 140 litres of gasoline," Basuki noted. "Our police officers also caught some hoarders with an Isuzu Panther car carrying 150 litres of diesel in Tirawuta sub-district," he continued. "As of now, we are assuming that the perpetrators bought the fuel at normal price from several gas filling stations (SPBU) and hoarded it for some time so they could later sell it at a high price during fuel scarcity," Basuki added.