Fake diesel made in Tanjung Barat

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of a neighborhood unit in the Tanjung Barat subdistrict of Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, alleged on Friday that a cooperative had long used a plot of land in the area to manufacture fake diesel.

The cooperative is reportedly for upmarket customers.

The residents alleged the owner of the business was a military-run cooperative.

"I can't give you names. What's for sure is that the fake fuel production and selling have been going on for years, but nothing can be done," the neighborhood unit chief said.

The plot, adjacent to a luxury house on Jl. Nangka, is well- known to locals.

Some residents suspect the plot, surrounded by an iron fence and heavily guarded daily by officers in police and military uniforms, is used to produce adulterated diesel.

A man requesting anonymity said on Friday that the plot becomes busy between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. with heavy tanker traffic.

"The place is heavily guarded by police and military officers who come from the East Jakarta area. The empty plot itself has been leased from a resident here. The counterfeit business has been going on for years," the man said. (ylt)