GEA seizes more illegal fuel in East Coast raids

Jan 14, 2010 News

This GEA vehicle is loaded with smuggled fuel seized at Montrose yesterday.

Pails of illegal fuel were found in a hut on the Montrose Foreshore.

Guyana Energy Agency officials yesterday swooped down on two locations along the East Coast Demerara foreshore and seized in excess of 500 gallons of smuggled diesel.
The fuel was seized at Montrose and at La Bonne Intention.
However, according to reports no one has been arrested so far as the smugglers fled when the officials turned up.
The first seizure occurred at Montrose where GEA officials discovered several pails of diesel in a hut that is supposed to be used by fishermen to store their engines and other valuables.
The hut was padlocked and not surprisingly no one claimed ownership.
The officials checked several other adjoining huts which were all padlocked from the outside but no more fuel was found.
The officials at the scene declined to comment when approached by members of the media, referring all queries to the head of the agency. However, calls to Mr. Mahendra Sharma, the GEA head, were not returned.
It is believed that the officials were provided with an anonymous tip about the smuggling of fuel in the area.
And later yesterday afternoon, GEA personnel went to the La Bonne Intention Foreshore where they recovered 69 pails of smuggled diesel.
A source told this newspaper that four men in a boat were seen offloading pails of fuel into another vessel.
They had just finished offloading the fuel when they spotted the GEA officials arriving.
The men fled back out into the Atlantic Ocean where they remained up to last night, leaving their fuel behind.
This newspaper understands that the GEA had solicited the assistance of the GDF and police Coastguards but it is not too clear what was the response to the request.
On Tuesday night, smugglers dumped several gallons of fuel from a truck unto the main East Coast Demerara Highway and the Railway Embankment between Beterverwagting and Lusignan, in their attempt to evade anti-fuel smuggling agents.
The dumped fuel caused panic among motorists who had to exercise great caution to avoid a catastrophe.
The truck was subsequently stopped at Mon Repos, where GEA officials carried out tests on the remaining fuel.
A week ago police on the East Coast of Demerara seized a quantity of smuggled fuel which was abandoned at the Montrose seawall.
The fuel is lodged at the Sparendaam Police Station, but there have been no charges so far.

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