BOLIVIA-YPFB/DRUGS Bolivian authorities sign agreements to fight drug trafficking in fuel trucks

Record ID: 145295

  • Title: BOLIVIA-YPFB/DRUGS Bolivian authorities sign agreements to fight drug trafficking in fuel trucks
  • Date: 3rd August 2015
  • Summary: EL ALTO, BOLIVIA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF A FACTORY WHERE GAS IS STORED AND BOTTLED
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAD3XRXXD80MVQWQ4EY3GD7AS8B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    The Bolivian state oil and gas company, the National Customs department and the Vice-Ministry for Social Defence signed agreements on Monday (August 3) aimed at fighting illegal drug trafficking by monitoring the activity of refuel trucks carrying hydrocarbons across four border points.
    President of state fuel company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), Guillermo Acha, said that 550 trucks are in operation, carrying fuel across borders with Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru.
    Complaints of suspected involvement with drug trafficking were filed against two companies which provide transport services for YPFB during the month of July.
    According to Acha, none of the companies in operation monitor the activity of their trucks, and the latest agreements aim to increase such controls.
    "We are looking to control transport units and refuel trucks. We will be able to do this using scanners provided by Bolivian customs and placed in the trucks which will travel from Bolivia to refuel in Argentina," Acha told reporters in La Paz after signing the agreements on Monday.
    President of Bolivian customs, Marlene Ardaya, said that the scanners would be provided in order to monitor the goods being transported. This process will be controlled and subsequent legal work by the Vice-Ministry of Social Defense along with the Special Forces in the Fight Against Drug Trafficking.
    Bolivia's vice minister of social defence, Felipe Caceres, stressed the importance of cooperation between state bodies.
    "This agreement reflects the integration of the state's institutional participation, and that the fight against drug trafficking in our national territory is a political issue for the state. The principal objective of this agreement is (for institutions) to help each other, to create a front, and an end to the trafficking of illegal drugs which causes so much damage to our country," said Caceres.
    Authorities seized trucks operated by several companies and held them in a garage in Santa Cruz as investigations go ahead. The names of the companies under investigation were not officially confirmed.
    "We have found out by unofficial means - we do not even hold the name of the company - that several companies' trucks travelling to Argentina have fallen (into illicit activity). As we have said all along this is the drivers' responsibility," said an YPFB representative in Santa Cruz.
    YPFB Marketing Manager, Mauricio Maranon Somoya, resigned on July 21.
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