Singaporean authorities have arrested 17 people for allegedly stealing fuel from a major Royal Dutch Shell PLC refinery and seized an oil tanker and millions of Singaporean dollars in cash, police said.
The suspects, aged between 30 and 63, were detained on Sunday in raids across Singapore, after the energy giant first alerted police in August last year. Several of the suspects were Shell employees.
A total of S$3.05 million (US$2.28 million) in cash was recovered along with a 12,000-tonne tanker, which police believe was where the stolen oil was being transferred.
Photo: AFP
Authorities yesterday charged 11 of the people in court, including eight Singaporean employees of Shell and two Vietnamese men — a crew member and the captain from the oil tanker Prime South.
The 11th suspect was a Singaporean who did not work for Shell. The other six are still under investigation.
The oil was allegedly stolen from the Pulau Bukom industrial site, which Shell describes as one of its most important production centers in the world.
The fuel was taken on at least three occasions, according to court documents.
On Nov. 21 last year, five Shell employees were alleged to have taken fuel worth nearly S$1.28 million, while a further three Shell employees were alleged to have taken S$438,000 worth of fuel on Friday last week.
On Sunday, four of the Shell workers together with a fifth man not employed by the oil giant were alleged to have stolen fuel worth S$688,000.
The two Vietnamese crew of the Prime South have been charged with “dishonestly receiving stolen property.”
No plea was taken and the defendants are to appear in court again later this month.
Shell confirmed that eight of the people were “former or current” employees.
In a statement late on Monday, Shell said the company anticipates a “short delay in the supply operations at Bukom, but at this point we expect to continue to meet our contractual supply obligations to customers.”
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