The smuggling of refined petroleum products by some unscrupulous individuals under the pretext of exporting them to neighbouring countries has become a major concern for all stakeholders in the industry.

The illegal activity is said to be known to some security operatives at the various fuel depots, but nothing significant has been done to tackle it due to the parochial interests of certain people.

Investigations by DAILY GUIDE at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) have helped to expose the lucrative illegal activity.

The products are smuggled into tanker yards at Kpone and Tema in the Greater Accra Region with false documents and number plates.

According to sources, the smugglers, after loading their trucks, move into the yards where they discharge the products into 13,5000-litre capacity trucks with the use of pumping machines.

They change the number plates of the trucks bound for Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali immediately after loading and discharging the products into other trucks.

They sometimes collect the invoices and send them to the border area for stamping with the help of some customs officers.

The fuel smuggling is prevalent at TOR, Fuel Trade, Chase Petroleum, Cirious and Accra Plans Depot (APD) of BOST.

A source indicated that immediately some suspects were arrested, the smugglers adopted new tactics.

The unscrupulous people, under the pretext of supplying fuel to vessels at the country’s ports, divert them to yards for sale.

Deep throat sources at TOR told DAILY GUIDE that as much as 40 trucks with fake foreign number plates load fuel mostly on Saturdays and holidays at night.

Some senior staff of the country’s only refinery are said to be involved in the illegal activities.

“Some officials sign delivery orders and liaison officers also collect and distribute them to the drivers. Until a serious reshuffle is conducted at TOR, including the delivery manager, customs officers and people around Mr Isaac Osei, who is not unaware of what is going on, the State will continue to lose. Mr Osei is too weak and needs to do reshuffle at TOR to save the nation because most staff are complaining but cannot tell him,” the source said.

Staff of the refinery said the haulage tankers are owned by a cartel made up of politicians, especially members of NDC and well-connected business people, who have been licensed by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

Reports indicate that government risks losing GH¢1.5 billion Ghana cedis to fuel smuggling this year.

But for the smuggling of fuel, Ghana would have gained more than GH¢5 billion in revenue in 2017.

Last year, Ghana lost an estimated GH¢800 million in 2016 as a result of smuggling, and even though we are only halfway through the year, conservative figures released by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) suggest that the nation risks losing a staggering GH¢1.5 billion this year if we continue to turn a blind eye to the issue,

Bulk Oil Distribution Companies and Oil Marketing Companies have complained that aside revenue losses to the state, the smuggling of fuel negatively affect their operations.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Kwaku Agyeman Duah, said the criminal activity resulted in a 15 percent loss of volumes to his members last year.

Since April, this year, the OMCs have been threatening to sack workers at the filling stations and other offices.

The source stated that to tackle the menace, all trucks must be escorted to their destinations with the help of security officers.

“Licenses to exporters should be scrutinized, with proper audit and enforcement of proper electronic tracking of fuel to the neighbouring landlocked countries. Tracking devices must be installed on all export bulk road vehicles, the source indicated.