{"id":14457,"date":"2019-10-05T18:31:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T16:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=14457"},"modified":"2019-10-05T18:31:48","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T16:31:48","slug":"illegal-mobile-fuel-stations-at-city-ranks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/illegal-mobile-fuel-stations-at-city-ranks","title":{"rendered":"Illegal \u2018mobile fuel stations\u2019 at city ranks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ILLEGAL <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/government-reads-riot-act-to-fuel-dealers\">fuel dealers<\/a> have set up bases for what they call \u201cmobile service stations\u201d at most commuter omnibus ranks in Harare where they sell diesel to kombi drivers on a strictly cash basis.<\/p>\n<p>The unscrupulous dealers corruptly buy diesel in drums from service stations before taking the fuel to bus terminuses at Simon Muzenda (formerly Fourth Street), Copacabana and Market Square in Harare.<\/p>\n<p>The illegal practice exposes commuters and property to the risk of fire considering that there are no proper storage and dispensing facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Investigations by The Herald revealed that the dealers pose as kombi crews and park their kombis laden with fuel in containers at the heart of the ranks.<\/p>\n<p>The dealers repackage the fuel into 25-litre containers for resale.<\/p>\n<p>They sell fuel from their kombis, which are mainly unregistered.<\/p>\n<p>The kombis in question remain parked for the whole day, an indication of their illicit purposes.<\/p>\n<p>While kombi crews find the deal convenient, the sales are in violation of energy regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Bond notes and coins realised from the diesel sales are then sold at a premium through Ecocash cash-out, a few metres away.<\/p>\n<p>This writer traced the movement of boxes of cash from the diesel kombis to the female cash vendors who operate at Fourth Street bus terminus.<\/p>\n<p>National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi condemned the illegal activities and vowed to arrest those found in the illegal activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will investigate this illegal activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to establish where these dealers are getting fuel, whether they get it from service stations or from other sources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to assure the public that certainly arrests would be made on those who will be found engaging in that illegal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police usually carry out routine patrols at all the bus ranks in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Some private motorists who are now familiar with the \u201cmobile fuel stations\u201d also flock to the ranks whenever they run out of fuel.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the investigations, this writer had to buy five litres of diesel at Fourth Street terminus and another five litres from a dealer at Copacabana in Harare with a view to have an appreciation of the shady deals.<\/p>\n<p>Five litres of diesel was going for $65 at both ranks.<\/p>\n<p>At Fourth Street, two white Toyota Hiace vehicles were being used for the illegal fuel sales.<\/p>\n<p>The vehicles had no passenger seats and they were laden with 2\u00d7210 litre drums of diesel each.<\/p>\n<p>This writer purchased diesel from a dealer called Obey who was seated in one of the white kombis.<\/p>\n<p>Obey was stashing notes and coins realised from the fuel sales into cardboard boxes.<\/p>\n<p>One of the illegal fuel dealers opened up on their source of diesel, adding that the business was lucrative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy brother, we are well connected and we deal with fuel attendants,\u201d he said. \u201cI have friends at a number of service stations here in town and each time they receive fuel, they reserve some for me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI pay them for the favour. People like us, who pay handsomely, are notified whenever deliveries come. We usually collect our fuel at night using the drums.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At Copacabana, there are three different teams of illegal fuel vendors.<\/p>\n<p>This writer bought diesel from one dealer identified as Rasta, who stores his diesel in one of the rooms closer to the famous Copacabana terminus.<\/p>\n<p>He also confirmed getting fuel from his connections at service stations in town.<\/p>\n<p>When The Herald visited Market Square rank, the dealers there who used an unmarked white Nissan Caravan coach, were busy selling the fuel.<\/p>\n<p>Two drums of diesel could be seen in the vehicle and a number of people were buying fuel using cash only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ILLEGAL fuel dealers have set up bases for what they call \u201cmobile service stations\u201d at most commuter omnibus ranks in Harare where they sell diesel to kombi drivers on a strictly cash basis. The unscrupulous dealers corruptly buy diesel in drums from service stations before taking the fuel to bus terminuses at Simon Muzenda (formerly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[919,288,91],"class_list":{"0":"post-14457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-fuel-dealers","11":"tag-fuel-shortage","12":"tag-harare"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Illegal \u2018mobile fuel stations\u2019 at city ranks - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ILLEGAL fuel dealers have set up bases for what they call \u201cmobile service stations\u201d at most commuter omnibus ranks in Harare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/illegal-mobile-fuel-stations-at-city-ranks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illegal \u2018mobile fuel stations\u2019 at city ranks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ILLEGAL fuel dealers have set up bases for what they call \u201cmobile service stations\u201d at most commuter omnibus ranks in Harare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/illegal-mobile-fuel-stations-at-city-ranks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-05T16:31:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/10\/CORRUPT-FUEL-DEALINGS.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/illegal-mobile-fuel-stations-at-city-ranks\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/illegal-mobile-fuel-stations-at-city-ranks\",\"name\":\"Illegal \u2018mobile fuel stations\u2019 at city ranks - 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