Situbondo Police Arrest Man for Misuse of Pertalite Fuel in Modified Sedan Tank Modus

JAKARTA - The Situbondo Police (Polres) in East Java, again revealed a case of misuse of subsidized pertalite type fuel oil (BBM) transported using a sedan car with a modified tank.

Head of the Situbondo Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Deputy Commissioner of Police Agung Hartawan, said the police had secured a man with the initials JHS, a resident of Landangan Village, Kapongan District, and evidence of hundreds of liters of pertalite and a sedan car with a modified tank in the disclosure of this case.

"We secured the suspected man for the misuse of subsidized pertalite fuel on Wednesday (April 15) at his house and the person concerned did not resist," he said in Situbondo, Friday, quoted by Antara.

Agung said that this disclosure began with a report from the public who were suspicious of the fuel transportation activities in their area and then a team from Unit II of the Special Criminal Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Unit went to the field to investigate.

After conducting an investigation at the location, members found the perpetrator was using a blue metallic sedan car with the license plate P 1019 DO to transport subsidized fuel.

According to Agung, the modus operandi used by the perpetrators was to buy pertalite at the Landangan gas station at the normal price of Rp10,000 per liter.

To deceive officers and facilitate the transfer of fuel, in the sedan car using a gasoline funnel that is connected to a hose to flow pertalite fuel into the jeriken arranged in the trunk of the modified car.

"From the crime scene, officers seized evidence in the form of six jerrycans with a capacity of 30 liters each and all the jerrycans were found to be full of pertalite, totaling 180 liters," he said.

Agung added that investigators were still intensively examining the suspects and coordinating with experts from BPH Migas and the public prosecutor regarding the case of misuse of subsidized fuel.