2 fall for selling stolen crude oil

CEBU, Philippines - More than three barrels of stolen crude oil from a shipping company were seized by the police during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Carreta yesterday morning that resulted in the arrest of the two suspects.

The suspects were identified as Gorgonio Armenteros, 40, of Barangay Dungoan, Danao City and Gerald Villegas, 42, of Barangay Pardo, Cebu City.

Armenteros was the caretaker of the illegal business owned by a certain RJ Gumulon. He was assisted by Villegas, who admitted he does the repacking of the stolen crude oil.

Armenteros and Villegas were arrested by the operatives of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-7 after selling two containers of crude oil worth P1,500 to an undercover policeman.

Aside from the stolen crude oil, the police also seized a .357 magnum revolver and several packs of shabu from the suspects.

CIDG-7 chief Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba said the operation stemmed from a complaint from Cokaliong Shipping Lines about an alleged pilferage in its crude oil transactions. Tayaba said the Cokaliong Shipping Lines would order at least 10,000 liters of crude oil every week for its fleet.

However, the driver and the checker allegedly connived with each other by stealing at least 2,000 liters of crude oil every week.

“But according to Cokaliong complaint, thousands of liters na ang nawawala. Recently, I believe 2,000 ang nawala sa kanila,” said Tayaba.

It was allegedly the manager of the gasoline station supplying crude oil to Cokaliong Shipping Lines that discovered the modus. It was found out that the driver did not go straight to the Cokaliong office, prompting the manager to report it to the company.

The shipping company immediately asked the assistance of the CIDG-7, which resulted in the arrest of the two suspects.

 Armenteros said he was just the caretaker of the business and that he did not know that the crude oil delivered to them was stolen. He said that every delivery contained 2,000 liters of crude oil. Every drum has 200 liters which they buy for P2,800 or P14 per liter.

Armenteros said they are also selling it at P3,800 per drum or P19 per liter. Most of their customers are from Trucking Services Company.

Armenteros admitted that the gun was theirs but denied owning the illegal drugs.

Armenteros and Villegas will be facing charges for violation of Republic Act No. 8479, an act deregulating the downstream oil industry and for other purposes; Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002; and illegal possession of firearm.  (FREEMAN)