Police seize S$3 million, 12,000-tonne tanker from syndicate stealing fuel from Shell Bukom

SINGAPORE — A syndicate suspected of stealing fuel from Shell Bukom has been arrested by the police in an island-wide operation.

Simultaneous raids on Sunday (Jan 7) were conducted by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Police Coast Guard, said the police in a statement on Monday.

Seventeen men, aged between 30 and 63, were nabbed. Shell Singapore said in a statement on Monday that "a limited number of Shell employees" were among those arrested, but gave no details on their roles or extent of involvement in the theft.

The operation was carried out after a report lodged by Shell Singapore in August 2017 about the misappropriation of fuel at Pulau Bukom, which subsequently led to "extensive investigations and probes". Bukom is the largest wholly-owned Shell refinery globally in terms of crude distillation capacity, and Singapore is the energy giant's largest petrochemical production and export centre in the Asia Pacific region. 

Around S$3.05 million in cash and a tanker weighing about 12,000 tonnes were seized during the operation.

"The Police also initiated the freezing of the suspects' bank accounts to prevent dissipation of suspected criminal proceeds," the statement added.

TODAY understands that some of the men will be charged on Tuesday.

Shell Singapore said it is fully cooperating with ongoing police investigations, adding that employees who breached the company's ethical standards faced "serious consequences, up to and including dismissal".

"We anticipate a short delay in the supply operations at Bukom, but at this point we expect to continue to meet our contractual supply obligations to customers," the company added.