The suspects
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has warned that it would continue to work together with the various oil companies and the general public, to fish out unscrupulous persons who often use the authority’s name for fraudulent activities.
The warning follows the arrest of three men by the Elubo Police in the Western Region for allegedly posing as inspectors assigned by the NPA to conduct inspections on gas stations within the region.
The names of the suspects were given as Frederick Mensah, Isaac Opoku Mensah and George Larbi.
They were arrested by the staff of NPA and Superior Service Station, a gas station in Elubo after they (suspects) submitted a price list which stated that their company ‘Petrogolf’ was collaborating with NPA to conduct inspections of all gas stations for safe operations.
The said list stated “we inspect, write the new valves you will require and bill you before we fix the valves for you. We also provide a certificate to show to the NPA when we are done.”
Narrating the incident that led to their arrest, the Takoradi Zonal Manager of NPA, David Azey Adeenze Kangah, mentioned that on March 4, 2019 at about 10am, the manager of the gas station informed him about the suspects.
Upon realizing they were not officials of NPA, Mr Kangah arranged with the Police Command to arrest the suspects and impounded the Toyota Highlander with registration number GS 1434-18 they were using for their illegal activities.
“Upon further interrogation, they claimed that they had earlier provided services for Adom Gas at Half Assini. Checks from our database could not confirm any gas station at Half Assini called Adom Gas,” he revealed.
The Zonal manager stressed “the suspects do not have any form of authorization or license from the Authority to operate.”
He indicated that the NPA team, after the arrest, visited some gas stations in Elubo and realized the suspects had visited the gas stations in the area and left a note with a price list.
Mr Kanga indicated that, that was not the first time his office had received complaints from Petroleum Service providers of people using NPA’s name to extort money from them.
“This incidence is a typical example of what they talk about. This situation will not be taken on a lighter note. We will ensure the perpetrators are made to face the full rigorous of the law”.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi