According to deputy commissioner Mateus Rodrigues, spokesman for the Angolan National Police (PNA), the suspects were detained in the early hours of Wednesday by members of the customs tax police.
The arrest took place on Ilha de Luanda, "while carrying out the transfer of fuel from a tanker truck with a capacity of 30,000 liters to two boats containing 14 drums of 1,000 liters each".
"This action took place in the vicinity of Ilha de Luanda where these elements had set up an improvised pier bridge to support this operation," said the official, speaking to journalists.
Mateus Rodrigues, who was speaking at the Tax Police Unit, where the 12 suspects were presented, also made it known that they, in the act of arrest, "tried to bribe the agents with a value of 200,000 kwanzas, which was seized in the records".
"They are indicted in the crimes of subsidized fuel diversion and also of attempted bribery of the authority agent", said the PNA spokesperson.
Fuel trafficking "is a major concern for our State and the police have given a good account of this criminal action with several actions, mainly in the coastal provinces and bordering DRCongo, which is the main destination", he stressed.
"This is another action in this direction and here we praise the work carried out by our customs tax police forces", concluded Mateus Rodrigues.
