Four granted bail in fuel theft case

Four persons including an engineer were arrested on Monday (4) by the Coastal Police on suspicion of attempting to steal 3,300 litres of diesel worth over Rs.1 million from a bowser brought to the Colombo Port.

The engineer is a resident of Belihul Oya and is employed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. Police said that among the arrested suspects is a motor mechanic welder employed at the Colombo Port. He is a resident of Minuwangoda. The other two are the driver of the fuel bowser and his assistant. They are both residents of Sapugaskanda.

A bowser carrying 26,400 litres of diesel ordered from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to be used for tug vessels in the Colombo Port had been brought to the Colombo Port premises on August 30.

After unloading the fuel into tanks at the port premises, the bowser which had been leaving the port premises had been checked by port security officers and it was found that there was a stock of fuel remaining in it. The Police said that this truck had eight chambers and each chamber had been filled with 3,300 litres of fuel. Fuel had been unloaded from seven chambers, but the fuel stock of one chamber remained.

The Ports Authority had conducted an investigation regarding this, and arrested the four suspects according to a complaint made by the Superintendent of the Port Security Division to the Police.

During questioning, the suspects had said that, when the fuel in each of the chambers in the bowser is unloaded, the next tank empties, one by one and they had also come to know that the fuel in one of the chambers remained, only during the inspection by the security personnel.

According to the Police, these employees have been working at the port for more than 15 years and they have not been caught in this way before. Considering these facts, the four suspects who were produced before the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court under the charge of negligence or attempted theft, were granted bail, the police said.

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