Victoria Kaapanda

ONGWEDIVA - Members of the Namibian Police Force (Nampol) in Oshana Region early on Monday arrested one suspected fuel smuggler at Oshakati.

According to Inspector Thomas Aiyambo of the police’s public relations unit in Oshana, the police confiscated 13 containers with a combined 475 litres of fuel from the suspect. 
The value was not yet known at the time of going to print.

“The accused was also found with six empty containers indicating that these containers too were used in the illegal fuel trade,” said Aiyambo.

The containers were found hidden in a shack next to the house of the suspect’s friend in Uupindi north location. The Toyota Hilux pickup he used for the transportation was also confiscated.

Aiyambo said the breakthrough followed a tip-off from the  the public in what he described as excellent police-public cooperation in preventing and combating crime in the region.

“Members of the public are the eyes and ears of the police and they should keep that up,” Aiyambo said.
Although the police investigations to detect the origin of the fuel are still at an early stage, the police believe it was imported from neighbouring Angola.

Oshana NamPol has previously arrested other suspected fuel smugglers in the region with one of them arrested at Omashaka in Ondangwa for possession of 70 containers of smuggled fuel last month.