Two charged over gas cylinder fraud

Two men were yesterday charged with fraud and the bottling of gas cylinders without the permission of the competent authorities.

Peter Borg from Birżebbuġa and Maurizio Mangion from Paola pleaded not guilty and were granted bail against a personal guarantee of €3,000 (Lm1,288) each.

The men were arrested after members of the Special Police Squad last Thursday were carrying out inspections at a warehouse in the limits of San Anard, Żabbar.

In a particular warehouse, there was strong suspicion that gas cylinders were being tampered with, police said. On site, they also found a number of scales, as well as cut and unused seals.

Due to the large quantity of cylinders, the assistance of district police and the Criminal Investigation Department was immediately requested, police said.

Duty Magistrate Giovanni Grixti was informed of the findings and appointed experts to assist with the investigation, while the distributor and his assistant were held by the police.

In the course of the investigation, it transpired that a considerable number of gas cylinders were under the required weight.

It also resulted that the seals of these cylinders had been exchanged and the weight of the gas reduced to fill other cylinders.