V CORPS' 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION SHUTTING DOWN BLACK MARKET FUEL OPERATIONS IN BAGHDAD
V Corps Release
Release Date: 2/9/2004
By Pfc. J.H. French 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In a country as oil-rich as Iraq, fuel is in remarkably short supply. One reason is because black marketers buy up the fuel to sell at elevated prices.
To help put an end to the black market and re-establish Iraq's fuel infrastructure, the 1st Brigade Combat Team of V Corps' 1st Infantry Division launched "Operation Devil Siphon" in late December.
In the first month of the operation, nearly 50,000 liters of benzine and almost 300 cylinders of propane were confiscated, said Capt. Gary M. Belcher, a 1st Brigade battle captain. In addition, 50 people were detained and turned over to the Iraqi Police for offenses related to the illegal fuel.
"This is the kind of operation that has to be done theatre-wide, from one side to the other," said 1st Lt. Kevin E. Morgan, a Paladin platoon leader with the brigade's 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment. "It is like squeezing a water balloon. When you squeeze one side, it pops out the other. There is corruption from top to bottom."
When dealing with the corrupt fuel infrastructure, there are three main types of black market scams the coalition targets.
The first is large fuel tankers set up like gas stations and selling hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel, explained Morgan. A fuel tanker drivers, he said, will go to a gas station and strike a deal with the owner. The driver will then deliver half of what he is supposed to for free, and turn around and sell the rest on the black market for a substantial profit.
"Most of those were shut down early on during the operation," Morgan said.
The second type of black market fuel is being sold from the side of the road out of 20- to 100-gallon containers, he explained, with customers filling up their a one- or three-liter cans on the roadside. Those operations are still fairly common but are steadily declining.
The last type of operation being targeted is the propane black market. Canisters of propane are sold out of the back of "bongo trucks" for three or four times the amount they would sell for legally, said Morgan.
"For the convenience of having it basically delivered to your door, it is a pretty fair price," Morgan explained. "It is illegal now, but when the new government takes control in June it will probably be legalized because it is beneficial."
Since beginning Devil Siphon, the amount of fuel being sold on the black market has been reduced 50 to 75 percent, and the number of authorized dealerships has increased, he continued.
Of course, people are still going to attempt to sell fuel on the black market, said Belcher. "We have forced them to reevaluate whether it is really worth investing their money in, because if they are caught, we give most of their fuel away."
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