Source: Radio New Zealand
Global fuel insecurity due to America’s war on Iran has spiked the price of petrol and diesel. Nick Monro
Police say there have been 100 extra fuel thefts per week since the price of filling up spiked earlier this year.
Global fuel insecurity due to America’s war on Iran has spiked the price of petrol and diesel. According to price tracking website Gaspy, the average price of 91 petrol is $3.31 a litre and the average price of diesel is $3.50.
Assistant commissioner Tusha Penny told Morning Report police had a zero-tolerance approach to fuel theft, and had laid more than 370 charges related to fuel thefts since 2 March.
Penny wanted all petrol stations to move to being pre-pay only, and said many were already doing so.
“We’re seeing smaller stations taking action because they’re just seeing too much of this theft.”
Tips from the public were helpful to catch the thieves, she said.
“We have had people ring us pretty early, and we’ve had CCTV cameras put in so that we can make sure we respond quickly and we can investigate and catch who’s doing this.”
There had been an increase both in diesel burglaries and petrol drive-offs, she said.
“We’re seeing thefts from families who need to get their kids to school, thefts from businesses who are doing their best to survive and thefts from farmers who some would say are the backbone for what we do in this country. “
This week an [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/592968/invercargill-man-accused-of-stealing-more-than-800-litres-of-petrol Invercargill man was arrested after 855 litres of petrol was stole from a contractor’s yard in a series of burglaries.
Police said when they searched the man’s address they found 11 20-litre jerry cans.
Earlier this month, police arrested two men in Christchurch after a person reported seeing someone trying to siphon petrol from their vehicle.
“A search of the vehicle saw it contained five 60 litre containers, a battery-operated siphoning pump, and a small amount of methamphetamine.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
