On January 13, three men were suspected on the charges of involvement in large-scale oil theft at Shell’s biggest refinery.
What happened?
The Singapore court has reportedly charged three men suspected of involvement in large-scale oil theft at Shell’s biggest refinery, days after charging eleven employees under an extensive probe by authorities in the city state.
Oil theft suspected:
The Singapore subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc first contacted the authorities in August 2017 about theft at its Pulau Bukom industrial site, just south of the country’s main island.
Based on the input requirement, the police conducted various sting operation across Singapore and seized millions of dollars in cash and a small tanker from a major refinery hub.
Employees arrested:
Following the raids, a Singapore court arrested 17 people including eight employees of Shell. However in a turn of events, the charges levelled against three additional suspects on Saturday have entangled Sentek Marine & Trading Pte, one of Singapore’s biggest marine fuel suppliers, and the investigation found that one of two vessels used to transport the stolen oil products was managed by the firm.
Three more suspects arrested:
Sentak Marine released a statement that two of the three suspects had been employees, one a marketing and operations manager and the other a cargo officer. It has also confirmed that both the employees have been dismissed from service with immediate effect. The role of the third suspect, a Vietnamese national remains unknown.
The three are accused of receiving stolen property, with a combined value of S$896,444 ($676,510.45), at Pulau Bukom site, where Shell has its largest refinery, according to court documents.
Price of stolen oil estimated:
The 4,300 tonnes of gas oil that has been stolen is valued at S$2.4 million specified in charges brought against other 11 suspects on Tuesday.
The Court also listed two vessels used in the transfer of stolen oil products on November 11 and December 31, 2017 at two wharfs at Pulau Bukom.
The vessels ‘Sentek 26’, which carries a Singapore flag, and ‘MT Gaea’ have been travelling around the city state over the last 30 days, both making one journey down to the Indonesian island of Batam in late December.
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Source: Reuters
