Ireland’s leading Protection Specialists, have warned businesses and private home owners to take extra precautions to secure their oil supplies, as unscrupulous criminals are seeking out fuel to sell as an increasingly valuable commodity on the black market.

During the final quarter of 2010 intervention specialists at Netwatch recorded a 15% increase in incidents where fuel appeared to be the intended target, compared with the same period in 2009 and thieves are targeting both businesses and residential premises. Residential properties, often without an intruder alarm, are being targeted for home heating oil, with criminals siphoning oil into transport canisters in the majority of cases. Given the quantities of oil involved, some people are not even aware that they have been targeted, but isolated houses in rural communities are particularly vulnerable.

However, commercial properties housing large quantities of transport diesel have become a particular target. David Walsh, Managing Director of Netwatch says criminals are taking advantage of the rising cost of fuel to profiteer from this valuable commodity on the black market, “We are aware of one incident in Dundalk where a gang managed to siphon more than €50,000 worth of oil from a company with a large transport fleet.”

“In many cases, these gangs are operating with sophisticated equipment, such as transfer pumps and tankers.  Unfortunately in respect of larger thefts, the criminals’ typical methods of extracting the fuel can often lead to costly environmental spillage. This means that the business owner can have to contend with an expensive environmental clean up operation, in addition to replacing the destroyed tank and stolen fuel,” Walsh continued.

Mr. Walsh said people need to become more aware of their fuel storage security and address both tank security and also ease of access to tanks. “For private residences people should look at how visible their home heating tank is from the roadside, and also if it is possible to lock access to the property when they are not home.”

For commercial premises, Walsh recommends that companies reassess all their security measures, starting with an examination of who has access to storage facilities. Companies should invest in an effective security system that will detect and deter criminals in real-time.

It is important to ensure the tank is in a brightly lit area and that all staff are aware of who has access to the tank. Staff should be vigilant and report suspicious activity or unknown persons around tanks and also check the fuel levels on regular basis.  Fuel level monitoring equipment that provides instant alarm notifications of unusual oil level activity is affordable and readily available from reputable security providers.

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