May 14, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428

MUZAFFARGARH, May 13: Illegal trade of petrol and diesel is going on in Mahmood Kot and Qasba Gujrat towns of Muzaffargarh without any check.

The trade is going on allegedly with the help of the PSO and Parco officials.

According to Civil Defence officials, 225 illegal oil agencies are operating in these towns in which thousand of litres of petrol and diesel is stored without any safety measures. These agencies are located in every nook and corner of the towns. Any fire incident will end up in damage to the PSO and Parco installation as well.

These agencies store diesel and petrol in underground containers. These agencies get oil from the tankers which transport oil from the PSO and Parco to all parts of the country.

When tankers come out of the PSO or Parco depots, they rush to the oil agencies where skilled staff pumps out 1,000 to 1,500 litres from it. The staff re-fills the oil tanker with kerosene mixed with some chemicals and washing powder equivalent to the pumped out quantity. Although the PSO and Parco depots seal the tankers, the agency people have equipment to put new ones after pumping out the oil.

These agencies buy diesel at the rate of Rs30 per litre and supply it to other agencies at Rs33. Similarly, petrol is sold at Rs50 a litre.

Ironically, these agencies are being run by MPAs, MNAs and former union council nazims. Khalifa Manzoor, who is secretary of a state minister, is also running an agency. He told Dawn that running an oil agency was a dangerous business.

He said these agencies had given employment to thousands of people. He proudly said that his boss, who was a former minister, had asked police not to arrest Khalifa Manzoor in any case.

An oil tanker driver said on condition of anonymity that every day petrol and diesel worth millions of rupees is being sold to the agencies. Sometime even drivers on their own sold oil to agencies without informing tanker owners, he added.

Marwat Oil Tankers Company owner Muhammad Shafi said last month he got reports that three of his drivers have taken Rs100,000 each from three agencies to sell them oil.

He said he himself monitored his drivers and caught them red handed. He handed them over to agencies and asked them to get their money back from them.

He admitted that these agencies were being run on the oil sold through oil tankers.

He even alleged that the son of petroleum minister was also involved in illegal oil trade.

He claimed that the business could not be done without the involvement of logistic manager of the PSO.

Oil Tankers Association president Yousaf Shahwani said the oil agencies mafia had killed three people, kidnapped 11 drivers and seven oil tankers in the last one year over monetary issues. When asked if any cases were registered against oil agencies owners, he said they were running their business with the help of police.

He said each oil agency gave Rs12,000 monthly to Mahmood Kot and Karamdad Qureshi police stations.

This correspondent visited Mahmood Kot police station and met agency owner Munshi Arif Husain in the lock up. Munshi Arif told him that he was arrested on the charges of hijacking three oil tankers and pumping out oil from them.

He said in fact he had paid Rs13.5 million to these oil tankers and in return they pledged to give him oil. When he was pumping out oil from these tankers, the owners and drivers registered a theft case against him.

He claimed that he could show a video film to prove that he had struck a deal with them. PSO Logistic Manager Makhdoom Munir said he was not involved in oil trade.

He said he was not responsible if any driver sold oil outside the depot and he never received any complaint from any petrol pump regarding adulterated oil.

Muzaffargarh DPO Rai Tahir said police could not take any action against oil agencies as they came under the jurisdiction of OGRA and Civil Defence.

Civil Defence Officer Shakeeb Khan said the police was patronising illegal oil agencies.

He claimed that when he raided oil agencies last year, he saw policemen running from agency to agency and informing them to close their shops. He said during the raid he had sealed many agencies but the next day all of them were open.

He said he had sent cases of more than 100 agencies to court but not even a single hearing has so far been held. Instead, policemen and oil agency owners were threatening him with dire consequences.