Watch out for siphoning! With the sharp increase in fuel prices, the authorities warn on the thefts of petrol and diesel which are on the increase in France. At more than two euros per litre, “criminals sniff out a good deal! Imagine the added value if they resell the liter at 1.50 euros”underlines an investigator with AFP.
France Bleu has already identified a number of facts all over the territory. In Brittany, according to the gendarmes, siphonings now take place every day. “This phenomenon has been on the rise for several weeks. The most affected vehicles are those with large diesel tanks”, entrusts the gendarmerie to France Bleu Breizh Izel.
Among the victims, the transport companies, as in Torcé in Ille-et-Vilaine, where the thieves stole 500 liters of fuel. In Châteauroux, the bus network of the agglomeration was the victim of theft: 1,000 liters. Each time, the criminals enter the car park and break the tanks. Without qualms, thugs even siphoned off the tanks of the Restos du Coeur vehicles in Perpignan. “It’s really heartbreaking. Our trucks are all branded with the colors of the Restos du Coeur. The thieves knew exactly who they were attacking, laments Béatrice Pansa, the president of Restos du cœur in the Pyrénées-Orientales, with France Bleu Roussillon. We do not understand, we volunteers, that individuals can attack an association which makes every effort to help those who are in need.
Another target: heavy goods vehicles, whether parked in rest areas, and even while driving! On the A13 motorway, in Eure, a truck driver transporting a fuel tank was the victim of a robbery attempt by four men who used a subterfuge to force him to stop. The driver nevertheless managed to escape them and resume his journey.
Farms, where diesel tanks for tractors are stored, are also among the easy prey.
Patrols and advice to protect yourself
Faced with this increase in fuel thefts, some municipalities have decided to step up patrols. This is the case in Orange, in the Vaucluse, where the police caught two men in the act of siphoning off the tank of a heavy goods vehicle.
Throughout the territory, the gendarmerie has also set up 250 safety referents and security correspondents (two to four in each territorial brigade). Their mission is to give advice and propose solutions to companies and individuals to protect them against theft in general and fuel theft in particular.
“Free of charge, we do an audit and for each site we draw up a protection scheme”, explains Chief Warrant Officer René Coueslan, commander of the technical crime prevention unit in Yvelines. It is then up to the owner to decide whether or not to follow the recommendations.
This ranges from the establishment of a fence with a gate, to an elevation of the enclosure grids, through motion detection lighting, he explains. But also, simpler, he continues, “it is advisable to park the trucks facing the road so that if burglars approach the trucks, their flashlights are visible from the road, so that this arouses the suspicion of passing motorists”.
He obviously cites CCTV with “a return on the phone of the leaders” sites, or the “cut off of the electrical supply to the gun installed on the diesel tanks”. Although he noted that the safety referents were more in demand than in the past, Commander Coueslan regrets that this “don’t be a reflex yet”. “We are thinking of calling 17 once the theft has taken place, and not calling us before”.