bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Glenn Schloss

Triads reportedly running the black market in diesel and wholesalers providing the polluting fuel to the syndicates should both be the target of a crackdown, environmentalists and a legislator say.

 The call came after sources identified the heads of the Sun Yee On as being involved in the reselling of diesel oil sold duty-free for export with a higher than permitted sulphur content.

 The sources also said the 14K triad was believed to control much of the trade in the New Territories, particularly in Yuen Long.

 An increase in explosions at illegal storage depots was a worrying sign that a turf war could be breaking out between groups, they said.

 Six fires have broken out in the first half of this year, compared with four last year.

 But Customs and police officers did not know who the masterminds were.

 'There might be a possibility that there is triad involvement in this illicit fuel business,' said assistant superintendent Law Man-wai, who heads the Customs and Excise Department's diesel oil enforcement division.

 Raids had been made with police against illegal filling stations believed to be controlled by triads in Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long.

 A police intelligence officer who was familiar with the illegal diesel problem, said: 'We can't tell you which triad group is in control.'  Friends of the Earth assistant director Plato Yip Kwong-to said corruption did not appear to be part of the problem.

 'It's a lack of control of the triads or whoever is behind it,' said Mr Yip, who is also a member of the Government's Advisory Council on the Environment. He said action was needed.

 Mr Law identified a number of changes in the operations of illegal diesel suppliers this year:  De-treated oil now dominates the black market. This industrial diesel has a sulphur content 10 times that permitted for Hong Kong road vehicles but the red dye making it easy to detect has been removed by filtering;  The smuggling of cheaper diesel from the mainland with a sulphur content higher than the 0.05 per cent level permitted in Hong Kong vehicles has virtually dried up since October last year when Beijing banned the import of fuels and demand soared in southern China;  Smugglers have reversed the trend and buy diesel from Hong Kong depots at the duty-free bulk export price of $1 a litre supposedly for re-export to other Asian nations but take it across the border;  Some of the diesel, which has 10 times the sulphur level permitted, is re-landed in Hong Kong;  Illegal filling stations have been moving from the New Territories into urban areas in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island.

 Steve Choi Sau-yim, director of Better Environment Hong Kong, an alliance of academics, said a licensing system should be introduced on users of tax-free industrial diesel such as restaurants and construction, which should number less than 200, to prevent it being diverted for vehicle use.

 Wholesalers should also be licensed, requiring them to prove they were selling to legitimate users and exporters who were not diverting the duty-free diesel for the black market in Hong Kong, he said.

 Chairman of the Legislative Council security panel James To Kun-sun said a big part of the problem was caused by oil companies and wholesalers allowing industrial diesel, which is tax free, to be sold freely.

 It was then diverted for illegal use in vehicles. He called for action.



Legislator, environmentalists demand action against wholesalers supplying