PEF warned on theft, damaging of Project Aquila RFID tags

The Petroleum Equalisation Fund has raised alarm to draw the attention of petroleum marketing companies and truck owners involved in the bridging and equalisation schemes, that the Board has noticed increasing cases of theft and tampering with the Project Aquila RFID tags affixed to trucks.

It said its management has been informed that the RFID tags are being stolen by those who wrongly believe that they contain mercury materials and/or SIM cards used in making free calls. “For the avoidance of doubt, the tags, provided with public funds, do not contain any of these.

“Also, indications are that some people erroneously believe that they can cheat the government by using stolen tags for truck movement of petroleum products; and apply for illegal bridging claims. Again this is not possible, as each tag has a specific identification number affixed to the truck it is registered with.”

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The RFID tags are hard and passive tags attached to trucks to enable automatic input and retrieval of transactional data for faster claims processing and payments.

It therefore warned those that engage in this practice that anyone caught stealing or tampering with the RFID tags will be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law for economic crimes among others. “Also, any marketer indulging in this nefarious act will be back-listed by the Board, and reported to law enforcement agencies, which have been placed on high alert.”

It stated that any stakeholder who becomes aware of such tampering or theft but fails or ignores or neglects to report same to the relevant authorities may be exposing it/himself to possible charges for being accessories to the commission of an economic crime.

PEF management has therefore appealed to all stakeholders be vigilant and help arrest this ugly trend by reporting any breach at their locations, adding that PEF(M)B is doing its utmost to ensure that the benefits of Project Aquila are sustained through prompt payment of marketers claims.