The company involved in smuggling oil from King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu to buyers in France and other European countries has been carrying out its illegal activity for over 11 years, informed sources told Okaz recently. It has now also emerged that the company belongs to a large commercial group trading in the petrochemicals sector. Six other companies fall under the group, which has expanded its activities to include electricity and other industries. The company is one of the biggest producers in the Middle East of aromatic substances, solvents, paints, adhesives, insecticides, ink, printing, tanning, building chemicals and tar. The Administrative Investigations Department and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources have proven that the company's owner and 10 other employees were involved in the oil-smuggling operations to overseas countries. The company had used a trick of shipping the oil as used car oil. This was under the pretext that the oil would be refined for other use. The smugglers had been exploiting a contract the company had with Saudi Aramco to transport used car oil collected from gas stations and garages. Customs officials have sought to defend their capacity to dealing with smugglers, however an official has admitted some deficiencies. There have been a number of cases involving the smuggling of subsidized oil and oil derivatives from the Kingdom, according to Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Kharboush, spokesman and Director General of Public Relations for Saudi Customs. Although some of these substances have been seized by the Customs Department, other products, exported under different names have been allowed to get through sea and land border posts, he admitted. This was criminal activity in terms of Saudi law, he said. All cases of smuggling are referred to specialist customs committees, he said. He said that customs officials were continually on their guard for any violations. Companies are also aware of their responsibilities in exporting and importing only certain approved products. “We coordinate with the Frontier Guard and the General Organization for Seaports to prevent any ship from docking or setting sail unless they have coordinated their movement with the Customs Department.” All products exported or imported through pipes in the ports are done with the knowledge of the Customs Department, he said. All measures are taken to close loopholes and to restrict the entry of banned and restricted substances. Penalties for violations are meted out according to the specifics of each case, said Al-Kharboush. Al-Kharboush's comments come in the wake of port management blaming customs authorities for not clamping down on the smugglers. “Customs are responsible for loading and unloading between trucks and oil tankers,” said port manager Hamoud Al
