Libya's Southern Region Turns Into Huge Market for Subsidized Fuel.
Pulbished on:
Galou, 18 January 2015(Lana) The sprawling Libyan desert has
become home to a thriving black market for subsidized fuel.
Thousands of tons of fuel are illegally traded in the area
stretching from Jaghboub in the east to Ghadamis in the west and from
Kufra to Ghat.
B.S, a former fuel smuggler told the Libyan news agency drivers
of fuel tankers and managers of petrol stations were involved in the
fuel sale deals either directly or indirectly with smugglers.
Fuel traders turn up at petrol stations to fill their cars, empty
car tanks content into gallons and keep doing this time and time
again.
A petrol station manager said he used to request re-supply of
fuel for the station once a week, but now he was ordering the
re-supply every day, indicating that the price of a litre of fuel
which does exceed 20 p officially, sells for more than two pounds on
the black market.
An eyewitness said he saw more than 20 vehicles selling fuel in
the desert.
The problem is aggravated by the security situation and the
smuggling of consumer goods also subsidized by the state and paid for
from the taxpayers money and the state treasury.
=Lana=