Officers of the security service of the Ukrtransnafta public joint-stock company detained two policemen and a civilian who were trafficking oil, which was probably stolen through an illegal tie-in in the Mozyr-Brody trunk pipeline in the Zhytomyr region, the company's press service said.
Controlling operators of the oil pipeline registered a falling pressure level at a section between the 122nd and 147th kilometers of the pipe overnight to Aug. 31, the Ukrtransnafta security service said.
“The special unit of the security service of the Chyzhivka oil-pumping station detained a white DAF car (number plate SV 3047 VS) with a 40 cubic meter tank trailer (number VM 3601 KhT) on the highway in the area of the village of Velen in the Korosten district of the Zhytomyr region. One of sections of the tank was partly filled with oil. Driver A.M. Kulykovsky was detained with his car,” the statement said.
Ukrtransnafta also said that a car with two policemen was detained together with the tank trailer. “An Opel Frontera car with two people was also found around 300 meters away from the tank trailer and detained. It was preliminarily found that one of them is an officer of the special police force named Pashynsky, the second one is an investigator [his surname is being established] from the Korosten main department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s department in the Zhytomyr region. Another car, possibly a Niva, managed to escape from the scene,” it reads.
The company said the oil had been stolen through an illegal cut-in at the 126th Mozyr-Brody oil pipeline near the same village of Velen.
Ukrtransnafta reported about the incident in the Korosten police department, handed over the detainees and their cars to the police; policemen and officers of the Ukrainian Security Service have examined the incident site.
“However, according to available information, officers of the district police came under strong pressure from different influential persons to deliberately ‘destroy’ the probe into this case so that those guilty might avoid responsibility. Moreover, demands are even put forward to bring back the cars and equipment that was used for making a ‘tie-in’ in the oil pipeline confiscated from the criminals,” Ukrtransnafta said.
The company demands a fair and thorough investigation into this case and special attention to it by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.
