In October, RECOPE officials said that separate oil theft incidents had been reported in , a jump from cases all of last year. In , 47 cases were tallied, and just three cases were reported in Other sites where thefts have occurred include La Garita, Barranca, Esparza and places along Route The oil theft gangs have also found more sophisticated ways to siphon off fuel.
Whereas boreholes were once crudely made and the gasoline carried away by hand, authorities are now seeing gaping holes that allow for the gasoline to be pumped out with small high-pressure hoses up to meters long. So far, the police response has largely been ineffective , most often resulting in just the capture of young men who carry out the thefts. Other countries in the region have also seen crime groups exploit the lucrative oil theft trade.
In Honduras, some 50, liters of stolen fuel were seized during a February operation. The organization is accused of falsifying records of goods imported from China to Argentina, mainly between and , in order to avoid taxes. In , for example, China recorded , tons of textile exports to Argentina, while the South American country recorded 87, tons. A year later, in , these numbers dropped considerably. China recorded around just two million tons of exports while Argentina had only , tons.
The large amount of resources required to effectively control the vast numbers of containers passing through ports daily and the potential for criminal earnings for corrupt officials make it an ideal vehicle for criminal activities. That, combined with a history of deep-seated corruption within customs, makes for a toxic combination that is particularly difficult to tackle. He suggested a series of measures to try and tackle contraband and other illegal activities using container shipments, including deploying independent officials to carry out controls and using better scanning technology like body cameras.
The idea, although promising, would present its own challenges, particularly when it comes to the resources needed to effectively control more than 6, customs officials, prime targets for bribes by criminal organizations. In addition to contraband, container shipments are often used to conceal illegal drugs.
