How black marketers bribe police, smuggle petrol

Operators of the black market are making huge sales as fuel scarcity is biting harder in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Our correspondent who encountered some of the operators on Bauchi Road with jerry cans, reports that motorists were buying the fuel from the operators due to the scarcity of the product at filling stations.

Daily Trust further reports that there has not been adequate fuel in many of the filling stations visited by our correspondent, with many of them deserted and pump attendants seen hanging around.

Ibrahim Musa, a black market operator at Dogon Dutse Junction in Jos, told our correspondent that they travelled every day to Narabi and Tilden Fulani in Bauchi State to smuggle the fuel to Jos.

Musa said, “We sell a gallon at N1,200 because we bribe the police on the road before we are allowed to pass.

“If you calculate the money we spend before we bring the product to Jos, you will be surprised.

“When we realised that we were spending lots of money, we deviated from the main roads and started following other routes to supply the product.”

Another operator, Musa Isa, who sells fuel on Bauchi Road, told Daily Trust that he travelled to Magama, a town in Bauchi State, to smuggle the fuel to Jos and sell a gallon at N1200.

Isa said, “It is difficult to bring it. Before we can get to Jos, we bribe the pump attendants N200 for each gallon.” (Daily Trust)