Seize 10,000 litres of fuel

The Mineral Resources Inspectorate last week seized 10,000 litres of contraband fuel being sold illegally in Garagua, Mossurize district, Manica province. Provincial Director of Infrastructure in Manica, Silva Manuel, told ‘Carta’ that the seizure resulted from a complaint. “When we went to the scene with SERNIC [the National Criminal Investigation Service], [those involved] ran away, but SERNIC is continuing the search for them,” Manuel said. That provincial director said moreover that the commercialisation was unfair, in that a litre of diesel which should have cost 59 meticais was being sold at 50 or 55 meticais. Furthermore, the fuel was being traded in households, at great risk to the population in the event of a fire.

Manuel noted that this is not the first time that the authorities had seized fuel in the area, Manica being a corridor for the transport of fuel from the Port of Beira to neighbouring Zimbabwe.

He pledged that the government would act to discourage the illegal sale of fuel.

Also during the week just ended, nine tons of garnet ore were seized in the city of Chimoio, capital of Manica. Provincial Inspector of Mineral Resources, Vasco Semba, reports that the ore was found in Bairro 5, in the possession of a foreign citizen of apparently Tanzanian origin.

“The citizen denied that the minerals were his, but belonged to his brother, who was not at home at the time. In any case, next week we will present the report to the police authorities to continue the investigation. The minerals are valued at 350,000 meticais, and their smuggling would have cost the state 20,000 meticais in taxes,” Semba explained. According to ‘Noticias’ the stones of garnet, rutilated quartz and agate were kept inside 185  bags, found in an improvised warehouse at a residence . The semi precious stones came from illegal mining carried out in  ‘Coutada Nove’ , an official game hunting area, located in Macossa, ‘Notícias adds. The inspector also reported that, in January, the authorities had seized minerals in relatively smaller quantities in Bárue district, in the same province. Speaking to the newspaper, Semba actively discouraged illegal mining and smuggling of minerals as harmful to both the environment and the state.