CAMP G. NAKAR, Lucena City -- Two truck drivers and four helpers were arrested for allegedly engaging in illegal trading of petroleum products through ‘paihi’ on Sunday evening, Aug. 28, in Barangay Lumingon in Tiaong town.
The police also seized hundreds of liters of diesel during a joint police operation on Sunday evening (Aug. 28) that lasted until early hours of Monday (Aug. 29) at a by-pass road in Brgy. Lumingon.
In a report of Police Lt. Col. Ariel Tolorio Huesca, provincial chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Quezon Provincial Field Unit, the suspects were identified as Ricardo Infiesto, 34, Armando Perdiones, 33, both truck drivers.
Also arrested were the four truck helpers identified as Vergel Alcazar, 37, Junior Cacal, 40, Reynaldo Fajardo, 37, and Reniel Estole, 18.
The CIDG-Quezon led by P/Lt. Harold Landicho conducted the operations with the Tiaong Philippine National Police and 405th Regional Mobile Force Battalion-4A against illegal trading/selling of petroleum products derived from trucks through ‘paihi.’
The suspects were caught in the act of squeezing fuels from trucks in violation of P.D. 1865 and qualified theft.
‘Paihi’ is a fuel theft practiced by truck drivers and their crew wherein they get the fuels, mostly diesel, form their driven truck and sell it to pre-arranged buyers. The practice of illegal trading and/or selling of petroleum products is also penalized under B.P. 33.
In the operation, two LPG trailer trucks with license plate numbers NGP 1783 and NFZ 6926, and a tricycle were impounded, while hundreds of liters of diesel were confiscated from the buyers during the operation.
The proceeds of the illegal trading were also seized and recovered from the drivers.
The drivers of the trucks are also facing an independent and separate complaint for qualified theft which would be filed by their employer.
The arrested persons are currently detained in the CIDG-Quezon custodial facility.