Jet fuel stolen from pipeline

Four former Enemalta employees had been stealing jet fuel directly from a supply pipeline, making the thefts almost impossible to detect until they were caught red-handed by the police in September 2006.

They had managed to siphon off the fuel from a pipeline that fed subterranean tanks at the corporation’s gas storage facility in Ħas-Saptan before being caught thanks to a tip-off received by the corporation, a court heard. The amount of fuel stolen has not been established but it is believed it was worth thousands of euros.

Former security officer Emanuel Borg, 64, of Fgura, ex-plant operators Joseph Farrugia, 56, of Gudja, and Carmel Gatt, 43, of Żebbuġ, and former technical officer Michael Attard, 43, of Qormi were given a two-years jail term suspended for four and fined €4,300 each. Enemalta CEO Anthony Rizzo had received an anonymous phone call informing him that fuel would be stolen from Has-Saptan, Police Inspector Raymond Cassar told the court.

Mr Rizzo was told two bowsers had left Żejtun and were on their way to Hal-Saptan. He immediately called the police and informed Assistant Police Commissioner Pierre Calleja, who had already investigated similar tip-offs.

Mr Rizzo explained that only small tankers, authorised by the corporation, could fit in the tunnels in Has-Saptan.

When he arrived on site, Inspector Cassar drove into a side road and came across a van, modified to store fuel, which was however empty. Driving back out, he came face to face with a similar van that drove into the side road. The police arrested four men who admitted to the thefts in their statements.

The fuel belonged to a private company, which had rented out five of the 16 tanks at Ħas-Saptan. The fuel was being delivered to the tanks through a pipeline from a ship.

The stolen fuel would not have been missed because it was classified as “transportation loss”, Inspector Cassar said.

Enemalta officials explained that ships had to submit the volume of fuel carried before it could be transferred to the tanks. It was hard to steal from the tanks because the drop in level would show but detection was difficult if the fuel was siphoned off from the pipeline.

Police Inspector Geoffrey Azzopardi also prosecuted.