Minister Exposes Fuel Syndicate

SIX suspected members of a fuel racketeering syndicate in the Western Region have been arrested and placed in custody in Sekondi for interrogation.They are Borbie Ansah, Yusif Tetteh, Frank Samuel Mensah, Dramani Alhassan, Muhammed Sulley and Daniel Sekyi.

A fuel tanker, with registration number WR 439 Q, from which diesel was being siphoned into containers for sale has also been impounded by the police.Briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sekondi on Saturday, Mr Issaka Salami, Regional Police Crime Officer, said the driver of the vehicle, Jonathan Gatienu, and some suspects escaped when the police arrived.

The Crime Officer said the Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, upon a tip-off, went to the spot at the Goil fuel depot in Takoradi and saw fuel being siphoned from the tanker.He alerted the police, and some personnel, led by the Deputy Regional Commander, Mr O. S. Gyeabour, were despatched to the scene.

Some of those arrested immediately led the Police Commander into a nearby kiosk and offered to give him a bribe of ?1.5 million. They promised to pay ?500,000 immediately and the remaining amount paid later. Four receptacles of different shapes and sizes filled with diesel were found on the spot while 10 empty ones were waiting to be filled.

The police found one drum filled with the commodity in another kiosk.Mr Salami said investigations were being conducted to determine the roles each of them played in the fuel deal, adding that ?the suspects would be arraigned before court after the investigations?.