With a hose in the tank, stealing fuel is easy. For commercial vehicle companies the damage is great, while few cases are investigated.
“Fuel prices are rising and so are diesel thefts from trucks.” We should take it for granted that fuel thefts have increased, “said a spokesman for the German Commercial Vehicles Association (BGL). “There are rarely any complaints to the police. The search rate is therefore very low.”
Gasoline prices have skyrocketed since the start of the war in Ukraine. At the same time, diesel thefts increased. A suspected thief died in Schleswig-Holstein last week. According to the police, the 33-year-old was killed when he was abducted while trying to steal gasoline from a truck in a store parking lot. Police concluded that the man wanted to steal fuel because they found a hole in the tank. Many thefts have occurred in recent days in the Bavarian city of Straubing. Experts stole from a diesel truck worth a total of 800 euros.
Professional drivers are calling for more police checks
You open the lid of the tank, put a hose in and take out the fuel. What criminals do in the blink of an eye means a lot of work and increased costs for the companies that own the trucks. According to the Federation of Commercial Vehicle Drivers, every year diesel thefts cause damages in excess of 100,000 euros per year. To these are added the cost of repairing vehicles, which, until repaired, can not be used and must be replaced with rental.
Unfortunately, the police are almost powerless, as investigations do not often lead to a specific result. The perpetrators are rarely arrested on the spot. To address the situation, the Federation of Commercial Vehicle Drivers is calling for “better staffing of police authorities and more checks”, stressing that “the presence of the police, mainly in the parking lots of trucks on the highways, prevents thieves”.
It should be noted that these thefts are not trivial offenses: they are punishable by fines or up to five years in prison. In particularly serious cases, for example when the thefts are systematic or involve burglary, the perpetrators face up to ten years in prison.
Mona Venis, dpa
Edited by: Stefanos Georgakopoulos
Source: Deutsche Welle
Source: Capital
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