Companies battle dangerous cooking gas thieves Klao Bell, staff reporter The continuous theft of cooking gas is threatening public safety and causing problems for marketing companies who are turning to private investigators to stop the illegal sale and distribution of the product. The companies' efforts led to the seizure of a Shell truck by the Cross Roads police at an illegal filling plant at 34 Beechwood Avenue, last month. Acting on a tip from an investigator, the police seized the truck as it was in the process of filling 21 cylinders, each weighing 45 kilograms (100 pounds). "We moved in and found 13 of 100-pound cylinders filled and eight others lined up," said Detective Sergeant Michael Pommels of the Cross Roads police station. The driver was arrested and charged for simple larceny. He has since been sentenced to two years of community service. Shell Company Ltd. and IGL Ltd., two large-scale distributors of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas or LPG), said they spend huge sums of money paying private investigators to uncover illegal filling plants islandwide, and expose drivers who sell cooking gas to illegal filling plants. "We have private investigators and it costs us several million dollars per year," said Shelley Sterling, IGL's marketing manager. "There are bailiffs going around identifying illegal dealerships, closing them do-wn and reclaiming cylinders. We have closed down hundreds of these places over the last three years, but as fast as you close them they spring back up." "We have identified at least nine illegal filling plants of LPG in Trelawny, Anchovy and the Corporate Area," said Nicholas Shorthose, chairman of Shell Jamaica. Illegal filling plants not only deprive marketing companies of profits, but could cost lives. Cylinders are being filled under unregulated conditions and are sometimes over filled. "This is dangerous - very often they are over-filled," said Mrs. Sterling. "An LPG must be filled to 85 per cent capacity. If the cylinder is under-filled the consumer is cheated. If over-filled, the customer is at risk because the cylinder can explode." Norman Hall, information manager at the Jamaica Bureau of Standards, also confirmed the importance of filling cylinders the correct way. "If the cylinder is over-filled...there will be a pressure build-up in the container and the vapour will force itself out," Mr. Hall explained. "Unchecked gaseous substances is always dangerous, if that is leaking and a match is struck there can be a calamity." Mr. Shorthose also pointed to the potential danger. "If a full tanker of LPG were to explode, you would see the effect within a kilometre radius (a little more than half a mile)," Mr. Shorthose said. "(Explosion) of a 45 kilogram cylinder could affect an area of 3,000 square feet (a little more than half-acre)." Last year, Shell and IGL announced they were joining forces to fight illegal filling plants. But, despite their effort, the trade continues to flourish. There is no regulation governing the LPG industry, although the companies said they have made recommendations to the Ministry of Mining and Energy. However, according to Godfrey Perkins, permanent secretary, the Ministry is "putting together additional legislation and drafting instructions will be sent to chief Parliamentary counsel. All LPG stations will have to be licensed so it will be difficult for one brand of cylinder to fill another without instructions from market companies. The trade has accused us of being slow but we are working on legislation simultaneously. At the same time, the public service is being pruned so right now we don't have an over-supply of staff."
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