Nyanza-Lac : a dozen fuel traffickers arrested by the police

Faced with a persistent fuel shortage in Nyanza-Lac, the police are stepping up their crackdown on illegal fuel trade. A dozen suspected traffickers have been arrested in recent weeks, raising concerns and tensions among local residents and traders.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

In the district of Nyanza-Lac, Makamba province (southern Burundi), a dozen traders suspected of engaging in illegal fuel trafficking have been arrested in recent weeks.

According to local sources, three of them were arrested on the evening of Tuesday, January 28, 2025 around 6 p.m. These arrests come in the context of a fuel shortage affecting the district, a situation strongly deplored by vehicle owners and other stakeholders dependent on this product.

A trader dies of stroke after stock seized

Alexis Gashara, one of the traders involved, died on the night of Sunday to Monday. He was a victim of a stroke. According to locals, his death was linked to a terrible episode that occurred two weeks earlier, when the police of the general inspection opened fire on one of his employees while he was transporting fuel from Tanzania. The employee narrowly escaped, but the cargo was seized.

The deceased’s neighbors report that the police did not stop there : they then searched his home, seizing a large quantity of fuel estimated at more than 30 million Burundi francs. Fearing arrest, Alexis Gashara fled and has been living in hiding since then. He only returned home on Saturday, before discovering the extent of the seizures made by the police.

Arrests by the Imbonerakure youth league

On Tuesday evening, three other fuel traffickers were intercepted in the villages of Buheka and Kazirabageni by members of the Imbonerakure youth league. Two of them are from the district and province of Rumonge, including a certain Bernard Ntirampeba, arrested on the river Rwaba, which separates the villages of Buheka and Biniganyi. The third is from the province of Bururi. The two provinces border that of Makamba. Each was carrying a can of fuel and plastic bottles. After their arrest, they were taken to the Nyanza-Lac district police station.

According to our sources, these traffickers were bringing fuel from Tanzania, avoiding the main national road, where the police carry out systematic searches of vehicles.

Motorists and other users dependent on fuel products denounce these arrests and confiscations of goods while local petrol stations have been dry for several weeks.

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A long line of vehicles waiting for fuel at a petrol station that does not have any in Makamba (SOS Médias Burundi)