Fuel trafficking in Italy: Arrests involving soldiers and managers

Dismantling of a fuel trafficking and corruption network in Italy: 15 people arrested, including air force non-commissioned officers and petrol station managers, involved in a vast tax fraud and fuel theft operation. The investigation revealed a sophisticated scheme enabling service station managers in the Rome area to avoid paying taxes by teaming up with military non-commissioned officers to steal fuel and sell it illegally.

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Italian police announced on Tuesday the arrest of 15 people, including five air force non-commissioned officers and gas station managers, involved in fuel trafficking and corruption.

Tax fraud and fuel theft: network dismantled in Italy.

The investigation began in 2021 when police spotted tanker trucks regularly travelling empty to Germany and returning loaded with “lubricant”, according to the documents provided, when in fact it was diesel fuel, according to a statement from the Italian customs police (GDF). The scheme enabled three managers of several service stations in the Rome area to avoid paying taxes and excise duties on fuel.

“But with the start of the war in Ukraine the round trip to Germany was no longer attractive”, as excise duties had been lowered, explained GDF Colonel Jonathan Pace to AFP.

Thanks to “personal acquaintances”, the three managers got in touch with the five non-commissioned officers, all of whom worked at a large military base, Pratica di Mare, just outside Rome. These five NCOs were in charge of “the registers and the supply” of fuel for all the military aircraft on this base, said Colonel Pace.

They had set up a system to rig the weight of the tankers and, with the complicity of the truck drivers, they stole fuel “to sell to the three managers”, added the officer.

The offenders – managers, non-commissioned officers and truck drivers – were placed under house arrest, and assets worth around four million euros were seized, with the GDF estimating that some 7,000 tonnes of fuel had escaped the tax authorities or been stolen from the base.

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