Petrolimex identifies petrol thieves

>> Petrol adulteration scam revealed

The petrol thieves are Vo Minh Toan, Vu Duc Thua, Pham Anh Tuan, and Cao Thanh Tam, Petrolimex’s deputy CEO Vuong Thai Dung told VnExpress Newswire.

According to Dung, the 4 are working for Petroleum Mechanical Stock Co (PMSC), and Petrolimex SaiGon Transportation and Service JSC, both of which are Petrolimex’s subsidiaries.

The men, who are Petrolimex’s tank truck drivers, have confessed to stealing 20 liters of petrol on each transporting trip, an amount Dung said was too modest to be easily detected, given the total volume of 16,000 liters of each tank truck.

Earlier, many fuel tank trucks were caught stopping by certain “secret stations” in the abandoned areas of Hoang Quoc Viet, Dao Tri, and Huynh Tan Phat streets in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7 as they were transporting the petrol from Nha Be Depot to filling stations, Thanh Nien Newspaper said.

Upon arriving at these places, the truck drivers would collude with others to steal the petrol, before replacing the stolen amount with an unidentified liquid.

Dung said Petrolimex had asked responsible authorities to prosecute the case.

As a fuel wholesaler, Petrolimex is responsible for the quality of the fuel it imported, he said. But he said product quality management was not simple, since the petrol had to undergo a multilevel distribution chain from the wholesaler to consumers.

“The petrol theft did happen, but whether or not the petrol was mixed with other substances after being stolen must be verified.”

According to the Quality Assurance and Testing Center 3 (Quatest 3), petrol samples taken from fuel dealers that sourced from tank trucks stolen by the thieves have qualified quality.

However, the center said it was skeptical whether it had taken the correct samples.