Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police in the North West Region, popularly known as FUK Daboh, recently conducted tour of Gbalamuya and Madamaya towns, where he exposed an alleged fuel smuggling syndicate.
FUK Daboh explained that from Bamoi town in Kambia district to the border with Guinea which is less than a mile has six fuel stations and they are all “in suspiciously close proximity,” he maintained. Visiting these stations, the AIG explained that some of these stations were customized for fuel smuggling activities.
One of the gas stations Leoneco had a fuel pump at the back of the station where there is an unmanned undergrowth road that leads straight to Pamalap Guinea. The other stations visited, had similar set up for smuggling activities; one of the gas station has a guesthouse which is used to house potential black-market buyers, FUK revealed.
In an interview with the Police Inspector, he explained that the reason for the tour is to show “the level at which smuggling is going on in Kambia district, vis-à-vis fuel.” He explained that these gas stations “were suspected initially for smuggling, but when the Inspector General and others came, we really observed that these people were involved in smuggling. Most of their products were seized and we were asked to ensure that the filling stations involved are closed.”
FUK revealed that there are seven filling stations, which are very close to the boarder and taking into consideration the demographic fuel consumption rate of the Chiefdom it’s very minimal. He added, “this means that any fuel that comes here automatically goes to Guinea.”
Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, Cornelius Deveaux, added that an addendum to the problem is the unofficial crossing points, “we have about 32 unofficial crossing points; including foot paths and farm roads. Some towns are very close to the boarder. You can literally stand in Sierra Leone and shout someone in Guinea and he or she will answer you,” he sighted.
The AIG blamed the petroleum regulation agency as a contributing factor to the problem. He noted that best practice calls for “visitation” and “assessment” of sites “suitability for the establishment of a filling station” before licenses’ are issued; adding if the agency failed to do so then it provides a recipe for fuel stations clustering in one area.
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