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Fuel Siphoned Via 7km PVC Pipe To Sarawak
By James Kon

Bandar Seri Begawan - The ingenuity of an alleged fuel smuggling operation across the border that was busted yesterday raised many an eyebrow as Brunei's senior Customs officials rushed to the spot to investigate the innovative method.

A seven kilometre-long black PVC pipe was used to transfer fuel from the Brunei border to a location inside the neighbouring Sarawak state in Malaysia.

The fuel smuggling syndicate, believed to be in operation for nearly three months, was busted when 17 officers from the Enforcement and Intelligence Section of the Royal Customs and Excise Department and two personnel from the Brunei Petroleum Unit raided a rented house in Kampong Kasat yesterday afternoon.

For the first time smugglers have been caught using a pipeline to outsmart Customs officials and smuggle fuel across the border.

The pipes, which were camouflaged under thick vegetation, stretched seven kilometres long from the rented house in Kg Kasat leading through the waterway of

the neighbouring country.

At the rented house, officials found 2,000 litres of diesel stored inside a water tank, as well as a van equipped with a modified fuel tank, believed to be used in transporting fuel to the water tank. A generator-powered pump used to transfer the fuel through the pipeline to the other side of the border was also found.

Four foreign nationals in the age group of 19 to 47 have been detained for further investigation. All evidence related to the case has also been confiscated.

Senior officers from the Royal Customs and Excise Department also came to the house to take a closer look at the method used by the smugglers.

The suspects will be charged under Section 140 of Customs Order 2006.

The Preventive and Intelligence Section of the Royal Customs and Excise Department thanked the public for the information and urged those with knowledge of such activities to call their hotline number 2382422 or SMS to 8714422. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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