Cape Town copperheads expose fuel theft syndicate

In a statement released by the City of Cape Town on Wednesday, the city's Risk Management investigation officers nabbed the ringleaders involved in stealing “fuel master units” from the council vehicles and fitting these into taxis and other private vehicles to fraudulently purchase fuel at the municipality's expense.

Six suspects have been charged and are currently out on bail. They are Faeez Bufkins of Bonteheuwel, Fahiem Titus, Niezaar Ryland and Andre Mentoor of Manenberg, Shaheed Thompson and David Scheepers.

The scam

Councillor Pieter van Dalen, chairperson of the city's copperhead's crime-fighting unit, said investigators were first alerted to the scam in July this year, when electricity services reported excessively high fuel consumption for one of its vehicles.

"Preliminary findings revealed that a BP ‘fuel master unit' had been illegally removed from this vehicle and fitted onto a white Ford Laser, registration unknown.

“Over a period of 12 days, the white Ford Laser had re-fuelled 37 times at a cost of almost R18,000," said Councillor van Dalen.

Investigators immediately swooped on various BP service stations across the Cape Town Metro to track down the culprits.

During the investigations, surveillance footage was obtained at one of the stations, containing details of the Ford Laser and an unknown male.

On 9 September 2008, another report was received of a private vehicle re-fuelling with a council-owned “fuel master unit” at a service station in Parow.

The registration number of the vehicle showed that the vehicle had been de-registered by request, a statement said.

Ten days later, the Ndabeni Fleet manager alerted investigators of a break-in at the fleet yard when thieves tried to steal fuel master units.

Lucky break

The breakthrough came on 26 September 2008 where a mini-bus taxi was caught using the city's fuel master unit at Ray's Motors in Epping. The taxi was traced to its owner in Bonteheuwel.

A day later, another mini-bus taxi was caught engaging in the same act at Ray's Motors. The owner of the taxi was also traced to another address in Bonteheuwel.

The fuel chain

Investigators established that taxi owners were not linked to the illegal activities and the drivers were apprehended.

Both drivers confessed and identified Faeez Bufkins as the person who had fitted the council's “fuel master unit” to their taxis.

The investigators were then led to Fahiem Titus who worked at the Gugulethu Depot of Electricity Services who admitted to stealing the units and implicated Niezaar Ryland, the alleged mastermind who had the technical knowledge to remove and fit the units.

Further interrogation of these suspects has implicated Bufkins as the ring leader of the syndicate.

"This is proof once again, that crime does not pay and that the city is committed to root out theft and corruption within the organisation,” said Councillor van Dalen.

If people suspect any corruption relating to petrol theft, they should contact the City of Cape Town's toll free Anti-Corruption and Anti-Fraud line on 0800 32 31 30.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews