The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is embarking on a three-day exercise to clamp down on illegal sales of petroleum products in the Ashanti Region.

The operation is in collaboration with the security agencies, targeting table top sellers of petrol and diesel in the Kumasi metropolis and Ejisu municipality.

Three dealers engaged in the illegal trade in suburbs of Kumasi were arrested on the first day of the exercise on Tuesday, November 18.

The fuel vendors sell petrol in gallons by the streets and other established locations, where fuel is placed in drums and served with the use of huge funnels to fill up gallons and vehicles of clients that turn up.

The NPA believes these table top dealers are either selling products at unapproved prices or engaged in adulteration of products to make higher profit margins.

“We cannot tell at this stage where they get their products from but clearly from the distribution cycle in the industry, no BDC [Bulk Distribution Company] will supply products to peddlers,” noted Yaro Kasambata, Head of Public Relations and Consumer Services at the NPA.

The NPA Act prohibits any person, other than one licensed under the Act, from being in possession of a petroleum product in quantities unreasonably in excess of that person’s immediate requirement.

The fear is that these illegal sales of petroleum products could lead to fire explosions as the dealers of the highly inflammable fuel operate with no safety measure.

Mr. Kasambata says the ongoing operation is to uphold the quality, pricing and safety in retailing of petroleum products.

“We are doing this to ensure that we can sanitize the downstream industry,” he stated. “We want to ensure that standards are applied across board in all aspects of the industry.”

The clamp down will be extended to other parts of the country.