Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

The Linstead police in St Catherine believe they have dented a million-dollar gasolene racket being operated in the parish.

According the police, thieves have been making their way on to the premises of well-known construction company Bouygues,at Treadways district and extracting gas oil from parked machines.

The stolen commodity is then resold to illegal petrol suppliers.

Efforts to speak with a representative of Bouygues yesterday proved futile.

Extracted gas

"What our investigations have found is that a number of men go on the construction area at nights, where the machines are parked, and they extract the gas oil from those machines," Inspector David White, head of the Linstead police said, adding, "The company is losing millions of dollars from this illegal trade."

According to Inspector White, the police staged an operation at the site after learning about the thefts.

As a result, one man was caught red-handed as he went on the site and prepared to fill a number of bottles with over 100 gallons of petrol on Friday night.

The police seized a Nissan pickup truck, as well as 24 five-gallon plastic bottles filled with petrol.

The man's name is being withheld pending further investigations.

Meanwhile, Inspector White says the police is being forced to work overtime due to the increased levels of crime, including extortion.

According to him, at least one business has been forced to close its doors after reportedly operating at a loss due to exorbitant fees being demanded by extortionists.

"We (the police) understand that extortion has reared its ugly head in the Linstead town, which resulted in at least one hardware closing its door due to the non-profitability caused by extortion ... We are going to work so that people can do their business in a legal and lawful manner," he told THE STAR.