Prosecution and temporary detention of 2 suspects in the production and consumption of 'dirty' gasoline

(Baonghean.vn) - Regarding the case of producing and consuming poor quality gasoline, Nghe An Police have prosecuted Nguyen Van Tuan (born 1985) and Nguyen Van Ky (born 1965), both residing in Dien Ngoc commune, Dien Chau district, to investigate the crime of "Producing and trading in counterfeit goods".

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Specifically, on October 26, the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency decided to prosecute the case of "Production and sale of counterfeit goods and deceiving customers".

On October 30, the Nghe An Police Department issued a decision to prosecute and temporarily detain Tuan and Ky for 3 months; at the same time, it carried out an emergency search warrant at the residence of these two subjects. During the search, the police seized many related exhibits such as documents, computers, phones, and cash.

Two subjects Nguyen Van Ky and Nguyen Van Tuan at the police station. Photo: PB

According to the Provincial Police Investigation Agency, these are two subjects involved in a ring that produced and consumed more than 2 million liters of poor quality A92 gasoline that was discovered by authorities in early October 2010.

Nguyen Van Tuan is the person assigned to manage Ky Phuong Trading Company Limited; Nguyen Van Ky is the person assigned to manage Sau Hang Trading Company Limited. These two companies are both located in Dien Ngoc commune, Dien Chau district.

Previously, as reported by Nghe An Newspaper, at 11:00 a.m. on October 10, 2017, PC46 Department of Provincial Police, Department of Science and Technology and Department A71 of the Ministry of Public Security caught Thanh Ngu Company Limited (Ngoc Tan hamlet, Dien Ngoc commune, Dien Chau district) red-handed pouring solvents from the tank of a tanker truck with license plate 37C - 7512 into a gas tank at a gas station.

The amount of solvent transported on a 40,000 liter tanker truck driven by Mr. Ngo Quang Thuc for Kien Luc private enterprise (address: Hamlet 8, Quynh My, Quynh Luu) was transported from Can Tho city.

Thanh Ngu Company Limited's gas station. Photo: PV

During an inspection at Thanh Ngu Company, the authorities discovered two bottles of colorant powder and two gasoline tanks (one holding 3,000 liters of A92 gasoline; the other holding 7,000 liters of A92 gasoline). Through the struggle, the business owner, Ms. Vu Thi Thanh, had to admit that the 7,000-liter tank contained gasoline mixed in the following ratio: 50% A92 gasoline + 50% solvent + colorant = poor quality gasoline.

The authorities continued to inspect Kien Luc Private Enterprise (Hamlet 8, Quynh My, Quynh Luu), discovering 2 tanks containing over 10,000 liters of poor quality gasoline; 1 bottle containing colorant powder. The authorities determined that the amount of "dirty" gasoline sold by this enterprise in the province was up to 2 million liters in the period from August 2017 to present.

At the police station, the two subjects confessed that since September 2017, they had purchased solvents from southern provinces to mix with solutions and colorants to produce low-quality A92 gasoline for sale on the market. Accordingly, Ky confessed to buying 40,000 liters of solvents for mixing; and Tuan confessed to buying 40,000 liters of solvents. For each liter of low-quality gasoline sold on the market, the subjects illegally profited from 3.5 to 4 thousand VND.

However, through initial investigation, the police determined that Tuan had purchased 180,000 liters of solvent. It is known that in 2016, Nguyen Van Tuan was punished by the People's Court of Dien Chau district for "Gambling".

Authorities took gasoline samples at the violating facility. Photo: PV

To serve the 917/X project, the PC46 Department of the Provincial Police and the Department of Science and Technology Inspectorate took 12 gasoline samples and sent them to the Technical Center for Standards, Metrology and Quality 2 for quality testing. Thereby, it was determined that 11/12 tested samples did not meet the quality standards according to the National Technical Regulation QCVN 1:2015/BKHCN on gasoline, diesel fuel and biofuel. The quality criterion of the 11 tested samples was the Octane number - a quantity that characterizes the anti-knock ability of gasoline.

Currently, the case is being further investigated and clarified by Nghe An Police.

Nguyen Hung