Africa-Press – Angola. In the last eleven months, approximately 5.5 million liters of fuel were seized across the country as part of the fight against the smuggling of petroleum products, illegal immigration, fishing and the illicit trafficking of strategic minerals.
This amount includes more than 2.10 million liters of petrol, 3.2 million liters of diesel, and 266,912 liters of lighting oil.
The operations also resulted in the arrest of one thousand and nine individuals allegedly involved in fuel smuggling, including foreign citizens with irregular immigration status.
The data were released on Thursday, in the city of Soyo, Zaire Province, by the Minister of State and Head of the Military Office of the President of the Republic, Francisco Pereira Furtado, at the end of the review meeting of the Interministerial Commission to Combat Fuel Smuggling, Illegal Immigration and Fishing and Illicit Trafficking of Strategic Minerals.
According to him, between September 2024 and the first quarter of the current year, 76 vehicles, 36 motorcycles and 206 vessels were seized that were used to smuggle petroleum products to the neighboring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
During the same period, 167 power generators, 172 searchlights, 20 copies of licenses, four herring buoys, 44 document folders and other equipment used in illegal fishing were also confiscated, many of them in areas close to oil platforms.
Regarding the illicit trafficking of strategic minerals, Francisco Furtado revealed the seizure of 22,879 suspected diamonds, 15 bars and 391 grams of gold, 3,000 tons of quartz, three ruby stones, 350 ivory teeth, and five bottles of uranium.
The Minister of State emphasized that these results are due to compliance with higher-level directives, reflected in the implementation of coordinated measures among the various ministerial agencies operating in the border provinces.
The Interministerial Commission to Combat Fuel Smuggling, Illegal Immigration and Fishing and Illicit Trafficking of Strategic Minerals was created by presidential decree with the aim of putting an end to practices that have harmed the country for years, especially the economy.
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