Authorities pounced on diesel fuel pilferage activities Friday at Navotas harbor, where a boat, locally called a pituya, that was making the rounds of tankers and fishing ships anchored near the bay shore was caught red-handed negotiating with the tanker crews to siphon quantities of diesel fuel for fencing off to retail buyers, mostly small-time boat owners and subsistence fishermen on the cheap.
At first glance, these pituyas looked deceptively like your typical fishing boats, but in reality, their holds have the capacity to hoard drums of fuel amounting to thousands of liters.
They approach tanker ships or large fishing vessels and offer the crews cash or fish in exchange for the fuel to be siphoned off.
Their modus operandi came to the attention of the National Bureau of Investigation Anti-Organized Crime Division, who set out to catch them in the act.
The pituya that was apprehended had an estimated 6,000 liters already kept in its hold, which was believed to have a maximum capacity of 40,000 liters.
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