Oil smuggling in partnership of depot officials, receiving officers and drivers

Crillions of taka worth of diesel are being stolen from various depots under Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC). An unscrupulous gang is installing special chambers in oil lorries to take out excess oil from the depot and sell it on the black market. Three parties are involved in this – depot officials, officials of the oil receiving company and the lorry driver-assistant. Several members of this gang told us this information today, Monday (October 7).
The theft occurs in two stages – during the time of bringing it to the depot from the port and during the time of supplying it to various institutions from the depot. Recently, 375,000 liters of diesel disappeared from the Fatulla depot of Jamuna Oil Company, which is believed to have been stolen using the same technique.
This stolen oil is sold secretly in various areas including Chittagong, Patenga, Bayezid. In addition, oil smuggling is also taking place through ships on the Karnaphuli river route. Some officials of the state-owned oil transportation and marketing company, local syndicates and ship workers are allegedly involved in this ring. The statement of the BPC chairman was not available, but the organization’s information officer Shahina Sultana said that she was not aware of the matter and that it would be necessary to find out.