Police confiscate 470 tons of hoarded fuel aboard ship
Police confiscate 470 tons of hoarded fuel aboard ship
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
The city police have confiscated at least 470 tons of hoarded
diesel fuel, worth Rp 5 billion, on a barge off the northern
coast of Jakarta.
The City police financial detectives division, led by Adj.
Com. Suhardiyanto, said on Thursday that it had raided the ship
Kencana Jaya One on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
The ship's crew was also caught red-handed selling 2.5 tons of
diesel fuel to a locally owned domestic fishing ship that
operated abroad, Jimmy Wijaya 36. The ship was bound for Sri
Lanka.
The ship sold the fuel to the fishing ship at a price of Rp
1.015 per liter, higher than the normal price of Rp 900.
Based on regulations of the state oil company Pertamina, which
controls the fuel trade, the ship was not allowed to sell fuel to
any vessel other than domestic fishing ships operating within
Indonesian waters.
A reliable source said that several people from Pertamina were
believed to be behind the hoarding incident.
The ship had been under the police surveillance since Dec. 25,
2001, suspected of hoarding a large amount of fuel since November
2001.
According to a detective from the city police, the owner of
the ship, H. Dani from PT. Millennium, transferred the use of the
ship to H. Sutarto from PT. Nasitor.
He said that by doing so Dani had violated an agreement
between his company and Pertamina, which ruled that such a
transfer to other parties needed the state firm's prior
permission.
However, the ship had managed to get the transfer license
without any permission from Pertamina and had secured a delivery
of diesel fuel from Koperasi Bandar Sunda Kelapa, a trading agent
of Pertamina.
The police also found that Pertamina had not attempted to
locate or report the ship, although it had not sold its fuel load
for the last two months.
According to the detective, if a ship failed to sell all its
fuel within 24 hours, it was obliged to report it to Pertamina.
Pertamina would then ask the ship to make a new delivery or
return the fuel.
City police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said that at least
five people had been detained in their inquiry. They would be
charged with violating government regulation No. 22/2001 on oil
and gas.
Article No. 53c of the regulations relating to hoarding
carries a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment and a fine
of Rp 3 billion. Article No. 50a on trading oil and gas illegally
carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment and a fine
of Rp 5 billion.
Anton dismissed an accusation that certain military officers
were involved in the illegal trading.