Two illegal fuel dealers arrested

A combined team of the Military Police and officials of the National Petroleum Authority on Sunday night swooped on illegal fuel dealers in Kumasi and arrested two prime suspects at Daban, a suburb of Kumasi.

The exercise was however not without incident as one of the arrested suspects managed to sneak away while in the company of the two policemen.

Kwasi Baidoo, the escapee suspect was arrested while he was in the process of selling fuel at an unauthorized point.

He led the police after his arrest to the house of the other suspect, Bright Sarpong at Daban and while the police were calling on Sarpong to come out from his room at about 10 pm, Baidoo who was then standing in between two policemen managed to disappear from their midst.

A confusion arose when NPA officials demanded to know why Baidoo was not handcuffed, to which the police responded that they did not have one, claiming their unit (Buffalo) lacked the cuffs.

The exercise followed publication about an illegal fuel business booming in and around Kumasi area.

Unauthorized fuel filling stations have been springing up in the metropolis with fuel tanker drivers allegedly being the suppliers.

While five gallons of diesel or petrol are sold for 172,500 cedis and 175,000 respectively, the way siders sell them for 165,000 and 160,000 cedis respectively.

Source: The Ghanaian Times