By RODRIGO FERREIRA, O Diário de S. Paulo - 14/04/2005

Police closed an adulterated fuel distributor in Santana do Parnaíba, Greater São Paulo yesterday morning. According to the police, approximately 1 million liters of fuel per month were tampered with at the scene. Nobody was arrested.

The adulterated fuel was found in a blitz held yesterday at the company Sultão Distribuidora de Combustível Ltda, located at Rua Rio de Janeiro. At the scene, police from the Capital Judicial Police Department (Decap) found five tanks and seven carts loaded with adulterated fuel. The police also found forged documents to attest to the quality of the product being sold.

According to delegate José Eduardo Jorge, the investigations began about 40 days ago. "According to our information, 10 to 15 trucks loaded with adulterated fuel left for the entire state of São Paulo daily," said Jorge. The delegate stated that the company added solvent and dye to the alcohol and then sold the mixture as gasoline. The distributor's owner, a businessman from Campinas, was not found by the police. The tanks and carts were sealed.