Source: Cruzeiro do Sul – Sorocaba/SP – 06/03/2010

The Doninha gas station, at kilometer 68 of the Castello Branco highway (SP-280), sold stolen fuel, the Civil Police of Mairinque found out. Clandestine tanks stored biodiesel and aviation gasoline, stolen from two trucks belonging to the Dalçóquio transport company, in the interior of São Paulo. The owner of the post, João Mauro de Toledo Piza, will be indicted for fraudulent reception, tax evasion and conspiracy. He was not at the station on the day of the arrest, Thursday, and until yesterday he had not reported himself to the police, according to police chief Alexandre Cassola.

One of the trucks, loaded with 44 liters of biodiesel, was stolen at a gas station in Boituva, where the driver stopped to rest, at dawn on Thursday. Three men surrendered him, left the post and stopped at a point on the highway. The driver spent four hours being watched by two of the assailants, in a forested area near Castello.

Satellite tracking recorded that the truck stopped for 50 minutes at the service station in Mairinque, at dawn. At that time the biodiesel was unloaded. Based on information given by the carrier to the police, Cassola and other police officers went to the scene to check. They interrogated ten employees and discovered that clandestine tanks contained biodiesel and another 45 liters of aviation gasoline, stolen from another truck belonging to the transport company.

The delegate called the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), but there were no inspectors available. An expert from the Scientific Police was then called in, collected samples for analysis, and a specialized employee of the transport company issued a provisional report that found it to be biodiesel and aviation gasoline. In addition, explains Cassola, the stolen driver in Boituva identified a hose left behind at the station after unloading.

The bitrem truck (two trailers) that transported biodiesel was abandoned on Rua Joaquim Machado, in the Aparecidinha neighborhood. The 44 liters of fuel were stored in a clandestine tank, under the station's garden, next to the parking lot. The garden's vegetation camouflaged the tank's vents. Employees did not name the station manager or the person responsible for receiving stolen fuels. They did, however, confirm the owner's name, also mentioned in the bank deposits collected at the office.

According to the delegate, neither biodiesel nor aviation gasoline can be sold at gas stations. Biodiesel is distributed in retail already mixed with diesel. The carrier recovered the fuel, which started pumping back to the trucks at 13 pm yesterday. The discovery of the reception scheme should yield developments and new investigations by the Civil Police.

Cocaine

The Federal Police arrested four people and seized 53 kilos of cocaine yesterday morning, during the operation at gas stations at km 38 of Castello, towards São Paulo. The agents identified two vehicles, both with Paraná plates, and in one of them false bottoms with drug tablets were found. On the other was a piece of paper with directions to where the cocaine was. The PF suspects that the occupants played the role of scouts – they traveled in front to notify the other vehicle about police inspections. The recipient of the drug was a Paraguayan, found in a hotel in downtown São Paulo. The prisoners were indicted for drug trafficking, whose penalty ranges from five to 15 years in prison. (with AE)