Cibitoke : authorities launch a manhunt against traffickers of untraceable fuel

At least 10 traffickers were arrested and more than 10 thousand liters of fuel seized on Wednesday. The governor of Cibitoke (northwest Burundi), Carême Bizoza, has launched a manhunt against illegal traffickers whom he describes as “enemies of the nation” unlike citizens who see them as “saviors”.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Civil and security authorities in Cibitoke province are hunting down fuel traffickers who have been getting supplies from Congo in recent times. On Wednesday, at least 10 of them were arrested by the police and more than 10,000 litres of fuel seized.

The search targeted the localities of Nyamitanga and Ruhwa respectively in the districts of Buganda and Rugombo.

“Contraband cans containing 10,025 litres of fuel were seized during a double police search”, police sources told SOS Médias Burundi.

Some administration and police officials say that “we are carrying out an order from above”.

The governor of Cibitoke Carême Bizoza says that fuel trafficking is no longer tolerated in his province. He explains that he wants to “avoid fires because the fuel is kept in households”. Mr. Bizoza describes these dealers as “enemies of the nation”. But residents and especially the drivers of buses, taxis and motorcycle taxis who do public transport call them “saviors”.

Residents are asking Burundian authorities to let illegal traffickers go to the DRC in order to “bring back home the unobtainable fuel”.

According to a judicial source associated with the Cibitoke First Instance Court, the ten intermediaries must appear in a flagrante delicto trial “for harming the national economy”. With the persistent fuel shortage, Cibitoke, a province bordering Congo and where illegal traffickers can easily reach by taking the Rusizi River, separating Burundi and the DRC, has become a bulwark for inhabitants of the commercial city of Bujumbura parallel to the city of Uvira located in the province of South Kivu in the east of the DRC.

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A motorcycle taxi rider fills a tank at an illegal fuel market in Buganda, June 24, 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)