By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo
Police in Bo say they have seized a huge consignment of fuel destined for neighboring Liberia.
The fuel was contained in 329 five-gallon sized rubbers.
A police spokesman told Politico that several arrests were made as a result of raids conducted on Friday.
The raids were conducted with support from the bike riders in the Bo township, who had complained that fuel stations were refusing to sell fuel to them and instead were selling to hoarders at a higher price.
Inspector Mohamed Bobson Senu, Southern Regional spokesman of the Sierra Leone Police, said six Liberians and two Sierra Leoneans were in custody in connection to the matter.
"The Liberian guys during the investigation revealed to us that the essence of taking the fuel to Liberia is that there is no fuel there. And they wanted to take it from here to Liberia so that they can run their normal business,” Senu said.
He added: "We are looking at procedure. Moving those consignments to Liberia, there must be procedures you need to observe, but flouting those procedures becomes a serious security concern.”
According to the police, preliminary investigation revealed that the fuel station attendants prefer selling to the hoarders who pay Le15, 000, snubbing those who can only pay the normal price which is Le9,000.
Inspector Senu said the bike riders reported the matter to the police in protest.
The Police spokesman said they would now have to process the case and consult the State Counsel in the region on whether to prosecute the case.
Riders in the town have now used the opportunity to call on the Ministry of Trade to monitor the operations of filling stations in Bo.
Sierra Leone has in the last three years had to deal with recurrent fuel shortages. And this has always led to increase in the pump prices, provoking protests from the public.
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