INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur — Authorities in Sta. Cruz town, Davao del Sur collared a truck driver who was caught on Thursday siphoning diesel fuel from the vehicle he was driving, a police report said.
Lt. Col. Kristopher Sabsal, Sta. Cruz police chief, identified the suspect only as Ramil, 36, a resident of Matanao town.
Sabsal said Ramil’s employer, Christopher Cabigas, the operator of a trucking company, requested the authorities to do the entrapment as he had suspicions the driver is involved in the theft of the truck’s fuel.
At close to 6 a.m. on Thursday, police operatives caught Ramil red-handed filling a 25-liter vessel with diesel siphoned from the truck’s fuel tank, with three more plastic containers yet unfilled.
Sabsal said fuel theft is a common complaint of truck operators against their truck personnel. This is the reason why there is fuel sold in the black market at prices way lower than at the pumps.
Cabigas has charged Ramil for theft.