JEDDAH: Five more suspects were arrested in connection with smuggling gasoline out of Jeddah's seaport. Members of the gang were first arrested Tuesday in the city. So far 11 persons are suspected to be linked to the gang, said Misfer Al-Juaid, spokesman for the police. He said those arrested provided confessions during interrogations, and that the investigation will be expanded within the next few days. The suspects had told police earlier that they chose Al-Khumra District because it was a quiet area. The case is with the Annuzlatain Police Station where the suspects are being interrogated. The suspects arrested Tuesday were of Indian and Yemeni nationalities. The suspects said that a Yemeni man was the leader and the one who brought the fuel tanker and supervised the unloading. They said he paid them monthly salaries. Their roles were to guard the site, receive the tankers, unload the fuel, load the gasoline into plastic containers, and drive trucks carrying the containers to the seaport. The police had raided the large walled site south of the city Tuesday where the stolen fuel was found in a large container. The gang transported the fuel from Rabigh and unloaded their tankers at the site instead of gas stations. The 5,000 sq. meter site was under surveillance for several days. Inside the area the police found vehicles and tankers used to transport barrels of fuel to the seaport, meant for a neighboring Gulf country. Meanwhile, a source at Jeddah Islamic Port's Customs said the department received instructions to ban the export of petroleum in Flaxi tank containers. The instructions come after a number of shipping companies requested the authorities to approve that they export chemicals and petroleum in these containers. The source said the request was studied by the Customs specialists and was denied because the containers are easily used for smuggling. It is also hard to determine the quantity of substances inside the tanks and to draw samples. The tanks are also known to be unsafe because they are prone to leaks.
