Seizure of 2 thousand liters of irregular fuel. He sold agricultural diesel instead of gasoline

The financiers of the Provincial Command of Catania reported to the judicial authority of Etnea the owner of a fuel distributor in Catania, in the Nesima district, who was illegally providing his clients with subsidized diesel for agricultural vehicles. The intervention, carried out by the soldiers of the economic and financial police unit of Catania, falls within the scope of the ordinary system of control to the road dealers paid by the guard of the finances to protect the treasure, the market and consumers.

In particular, the activity carried out by the yellow flames, in addition to verifying the prices indicated by the distributor with those applied to the pump, was intended to verify whether the product actually delivered to the customer corresponded quantitatively to the one displayed on the pump. the screen of the installation. check the quality of the fuel sold by taking and badyzing the samples.

Thanks to the latter procedure, the "green alizarina" coloring of diesel was detected, a characteristic that distinguishes diesel fuel intended for agricultural vehicles subject to a lower tax rate than that used for cars. The army therefore concluded that the product was not regular and that it had been seized both the tank containing agricultural diesel fuel and the related suppliers. The collected fuel samples will still be subjected to a chemical badysis to verify the actual composition.

The sale by road distributors of the cheaper "diesel diesel" allows the manager to make greater gains at the expense of the Treasury and unsuspecting consumers, who are nevertheless called upon to pay the market price. In addition, the use of this fuel in new-generation cars, due to the additives used for denaturing the product intended for agricultural vehicles, can cause engine damage.

The director, denounced to the prosecutor of the Republic of Catania for the offense of "subtracting the payment of excise duties on mineral oils", risk a prison sentence of six months to three years and a fine ranging from 2 to 10 times the value of the tax evaded and in any case not less than 7,746 euros. Since the beginning of the year, the provincial command departments of the Finance Guard of Catania have checked more than 30 road distribution systems and warehouses, removing more than ten thousand euros of avoided taxes and submitting more than three thousand liters of petroleum products at the seizure.

(Source: Guard of Finance, Provincial Command of Catania)