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Petrol truck hijackings likely to rise

Cape Town - Trucking companies have lost up to R350m in stolen fuel to a blue light syndicate operating between Durban and Gauteng, Conrad van der Merwe, regional director Gauteng of Justicia Investigations, disclosed on Monday.

Most of these sophisticated tanker hijackings took place within 150km of Johannesburg. Vehicles were carrying petrol, diesel and paraffin.

“As fuel becomes increasingly expensive, the many petrol tankers that are plying the route between Durban and Johannesburg will become increasingly attractive targets," he said.

"Between January and July this year, our investigators came to know of at least 35 different incidents. However, there have probably been more, given that between 40 and 50 fuel tankers are on the highway on any given day.”

According to South Africa's national crime statistics for 2012/13, carjacking (which is 9% of aggravated robbery) increased by 5.4%. Truck hijacking (which is 1% of aggravated robbery) rose by 14.9%.

Traditional tracking systems do not seem to be enough to prevent hijackings of trucks carrying petrol, according to Van der Merwe.

“Those active in the transportation of petrol should not rely only on traditional tracking systems,” Van der Merwe told Fin24.

“Hijackers jam the signal of the tracking system and at the control room it would seem as if the truck is still at the place from where the last signal had been received.”

He suggests that drivers of petrol trucks call the control room of their tracking system from their cellphones when they are pulled off the road by what appears to be police or traffic officers.

“The driver should keep the phone like that so that the control room can hear when there is trouble or even if a bribe is being offered,” said Van der Merwe.

Fuelling profits

He said those owners of petrol stations who buy “hijacked” petrol, do so to increase their profitability.

“Such a garage owner would still buy petrol from his traditional supplier, but would buy a tank of stolen petrol here and there to increase his profit,” said Van der Merwe.

At present, Gauteng consumes 65% of the fuel in the country.

Fuel trucks hijacked along the N3 were driven to the off load point on a farm in the Springs area.

Here, the diesel or petrol was pumped into large 30 000 litre containers.

The truck and trailer were then driven back to Johannesburg and dumped, while the driver was dropped off in a rural area in the Leandra/ Delmas area.

“In all cases, polygraph tests performed during the investigation confirmed that they were not involved in the planning or execution of these highjacks in any way,” said Van der Merwe.

The tenant on the farm, who was responsible for on selling the stolen fuel to a wholesaler, was arrested. Further investigations lead to the arrest of the leader of the highjacking team.

In addition, Justicia was able to identify the fuel wholesaler who purchased most of the stolen fuel from the suspect on the farm and then sold this stolen fuel to apparently unsuspecting service stations.

Van der Merwe said that the fuel was sold by the farm operator to the wholesaler at a 50% discount.

The wholesaler is believed to have added a substantial mark-up before disposing of the fuel to a number petrol garages at a 20% to 25% discount.

It was not clear how many filling stations were involved. However, investigations are ongoing and he expects further arrests.  

“Since these arrests have been made, fuel truck highjackings on the N3 have come to a complete standstill," said Van der Merwe.

- Fin24

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