Speaking to the press, the second commander of the Customs Police, sub-commissioner Júlio Vunge, said that on the 2nd of this month, after a thorough intelligence work, a group of individuals was detected on the coast, who were transhipping fuel from tankers for resale on one of the ships anchored in the Bay of Luanda.
Júlio Vunge stressed that the smuggling of subsidized goods is a criminal offense, so the three individuals were arrested.
"In this case, the two sailors who were inside the two support chatas to transport the fuel to the ship and the third element who was arrested inside the boat that served as a receiver of this product," he explained.
According to the second commander of the Customs Police, the vessel was used by the offenders as a storage place for this merchandise, to then be sold to other vessels, particularly fishing vessels along the Bay of Luanda.
"It was in this sense that our operation was carried out and served to arrest these offenders. Around 60 thousand liters of fuel were seized", he stressed.
When asked to comment on the recent denunciation by fishermen about robberies that occurred in the high seas, Júlio Vunge said that the fiscal police have been aware of this type of incidents along the maritime coast.
"But we still consider that they are some isolated acts. We are meeting the multisectoral operative group for maritime surveillance and vigilance. The group is made up of different organs, have a certain intervention of surveillance, in order to adapt our measures to contain these crimes, "he commented.
The fiscal authority admitted that "these are acts that normally occur," not being the first time, "often carried out in the Bay of Luanda by individuals who, at certain times, do it in an isolated manner. They practice some thefts, some robberies, some actions to vessels at anchor and other times to vessels sailing in the Bay of Luanda.
"We are coordinating our forces to contain these crimes and we are working to determine who these people are. It is certain that the dynamics of criminality also evolves, and certainly these criminals also seek to improve their methods of action," he said.
A month ago, indicated Júlio Vunge, some elements were arrested, who stole some paints from a ship anchored in the Bay of Luanda, having these individuals counted with the collaboration of the ship's sailors.
"We detained the perpetrators of this crime and also seized the stolen means. We have been increasingly perfecting the mechanism to contain all the illicit acts that occur," he reiterated.
The complaint about the armed robberies on the high seas was made last week by the Artisanal, Semi-industrial and Industrial Fishing Association, which refer to the theft of fish and boat engines.
