The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has pounced on another fuel station, this time in Takoradi, on suspicion of selling premix fuel as petrol to unsuspecting motorists.
Staff of the Nasona Oil filling station, located at Anaji, a suburb of Takoradi, where the alleged sale of the commodity to the public was taking place, have since been arrested to assist the security agency with their investigations, while the station has also been closed down.
The suspected deal was uncovered when an official of the BNI went to the filling station to buy premium petrol. After he had been served with the product in a gallon, he discovered that the colour was blue. This raised his suspicions, and he subsequently informed his colleagues, who came to the filling station to do a thorough check. This reporter, who was an eyewitness to the operation by the BNI, saw that indeed, the colour of the product was blue.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Yaro Kasambata, confirmed to The Chronicle that the report about the alleged sale of premix by the station had reached the NPA, but they were yet to move into investigate it.
The Marketing Manager of Nasona Oil, Mahmoud Mohammed, also newsmen on phone yesterday, that they do not have licence to sell premix, and therefore doubted the report. According to him, on March 2 this year, a tanker, with registration number GW3568 P, lifted 4,500 litres from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) for distribution to three of its outlets in both Central and Western regions, and named the outlets as Kakumdo, Anaji and Asiamah.
Mohammed further told The Chronicle that since the delivery of this consignment, no other product had been sent to the Anaji station in Takoradi, and was therefore disturbed about the report coming out about the alleged sale of premix at the station.
Seven days ago, the same BNI and NPA closed down a Shell filing station at Abeka in Accra, for selling premix as petrol to motorists. The two agencies have also launched full-scale investigations to unearth how the station came by the fuel.
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