Police Arrest Fuel Hoarding Syndicate Members In Riau

Pekanbaru, Riau, (Antarariau.com) - Police of Riau Province revealed a syndicate of fuel stashing and arrested three alleged hoarders who usually took operation in Pekanbaru, Riau.

"This case was revealed on Wednesday (June 12) and the Pekanbaru Police Sector Office is still investigating," Spokesperson of Riau Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Hermansyah said here Friday.

The three alleged hoarders are under intensive investigation, Hermansyah said.

"We believe that their operation had been conducted in a long term especially prior to the government's plan to increase the subsidized oil fuel price," Hermasnyah said.

Police arrested three alleged hoarders, whose initials are KS, ST and HD, in Senapelan Subdistrict and confiscated a tank truck loaded with one tonne diesel oil.

Head of Crime Department of Senapelan Police Sector Office Ipda Syahrizal said the three suspects were arrested when transferring subsidized diesel oil from official tank truck to the vehicle, that is now confiscated.

Syahrizal said, based on the investigation, the hoarders could stash five tonnes of subsidized diesel oil per day.

"The stashed oil is then sold to some gas station Rp4,500 per liter and then sold to the industries Rp10,000 until Rp11,000 per liter," Syahrizal said.

The syndicate members had their vehicle customized that allow it to load larger amount of oil, Syahrizal said.

"They modified the standard 80 liter fuel tank to allow the vehicle to load 300 until 400 liter oil," he said.

"We are still investigating and developing this case as there might be other syndicate members or even other operating syndicate," Syahrizal said.

The government is anticipating the possibility of certain quarters hoarding subsidized gasoline and diesel oil ahead of its announcement on subsidized fuel price hike, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said previously on Thusrday (May 2).

The government has involved all relevant parties including police and military personnel, downstream oil and gas regulatory body (BPH Migas) officers, regional governments and state oil and gas company PT Pertamina to anticipate the possibility of certain quarters hoarding the subsidized fuels, he said.

"We anticipate the possibility of certain quarters trying to capitalize on the situation by hoarding fuel oils," he said.

He predicted that 5 percent of the fuel oil quota set in the 2013 state budget will be smuggled.

With the quota of subsidized fuel oils reaching 46 million kiloliters in the 2013 state budget, at least 2.3 million kiloliters will be abused, he said.