Trio steals fuel from tanker at police station

Three men have been arrested for allegedly stealing petrol from a tanker parked at a Gauteng police station.

Provincial police spokesperson W/O Gerhard Cornelius, said the organised crime unit was investigating theft of petrol from Transnet and that the tanker was temporarily stored at the Brackendowns police station.

Cornelius said the tanker contained about 9 000 litres of petrol. He said Transnet officials drained some of the petrol on Tuesday but could not finish the job.

Cornelius said three men tried to steal the remaining petrol on Wednesday.

"This morning three males pretended that they needed to view the truck carrying the stolen tanker with petrol and gained access into our station. The men were driving a Mercedes minibus," said Cornelius.

"As our CID (criminal investigation department) head entered the station he noticed the men tampering with the truck at the tanker tap with pipes. On closer investigation he noticed they were stealing petrol out of the tanker.

"The three were immediately arrested, as they do not work for Transnet, and detained at SAPS Brackendowns.

The investigating team from the organised crime unit was contacted and the case is being investigated."