Muscat: Smuggling of diesel from Oman to other countries has significantly decreased since the country increased price over the past few months, a top police official told Gulf News.
The country had been losing millions of riyals in revenue a year because of the smuggling of diesel which was priced much lower than in other GCC states.
Since mid-January, authorities have gradually increased diesel price to discourage smugglers. By July, the increase reached almost 50 per cent. They also introduced a range of penalties for those caught smuggling diesel.
Before the hike in prices, a smuggler could easily make 200 riyals a day.
“Very few smuggling cases have been registered via Al Wajajah, Kutmat Melaha and Wadi Jizi border posts now,” said the official.
However, the official, who did not want to be named, said smuggling is still active in Musandam. Diesel is being smuggled to the Iranian island of Kish as it takes only 45 minutes to reach the island from Khasab on speedboats.
Authorities have intensified patrolling in Omani waters in an effort to root out the problem. Observers believe smugglers will think twice now, since their profit margin has come down drastically and the risk level gone much higher.
“No one will want to risk their lives for 10 or 20 riyals a day,” Ahmad Al Batashi, an economic expert told Gulf News.
Truck drivers used to smuggle diesel out of the country in hidden tanks under their vehicles.
In 2014, Oman police started to inspect trucks more closely. Drivers have to provide details of the distance the truck has travelled, the quantity of diesel in the fuel tank, and the intended destination. Customs officials would then compare the distance the truck has travelled with its consumption of fuel.
In 2015, over 20 diesel smugglers, mostly expatriates, were arrested, according to the Omani police. They were sentenced to four years in jail and fined one million riyals each.
In April this year, Muscat’s criminal court sentenced some senior officials of Al Maha Petroleum Product Marketing Company over embezzlement and helping expatriates smuggle diesel outside the country.
The court handed a former managing director of Al Maha, who is a UAE national, a three-year jail sentence. An Omani national and a former marketing director of the company was also given a three-year jail term.
Another expatriate was given a three-year jail term while two other expatriates fled the country. The court also fined all accused four million riyals and ordered them to pay all legal expenses.
Subsidies on petroleum products, including petrol and diesel, are estimated to have cost Oman 900 million riyals in 2015.
