Government cracks down on contraband fuel after 250 burnt in explosion

Niger government officials are calling for a crackdown on contraband gasoline after at least 250 people were injured - 47 critically - when containers stashed in a shop exploded in the southern city of Maradi. “Hunt down these swindlers wherever they are,” Interior Minister Mounkaila Modi said to security forces in Maradi on Thursday, two days after the explosion. “Declare all-out war on them - no mercy.” Fire broke out when a youth lit gasoline-doused charcoal where a group was making traditional tea near a stack of barrels of smuggled gasoline, a local journalist told IRIN by phone from Maradi. “The fire struck the gas-filled barrels,” the journalist said. “The young men and some bystanders rushed in to try to control the flames. They just about managed to do it when two more barrels exploded. Those who had tried to tackle the fire were burned.” One witness described a scene of total panic. “It was around 8 o’clock in the evening…I heard a huge noise and saw flames shooting to the sky,” Moussa Idrissa told IRIN. “People were running everywhere seeking shelter.” Interior Minister Modi traveled to Maradi to call for a stop to the smuggling of gasoline. But it won’t be an easy fight. In Maradi and other towns near the border with Nigeria the sale of smuggled gasoline has become the sole livelihood of thousands of people. And they always find buyers. “On the main roads, around the markets, drums of gasoline are sold to the highest bidder,” said Mamane Haladou, a resident of Maradi. He said people gain from buying this way because gas is too expensive in the stations, many of which have closed down in face of the competition. A litre of gasoline at the stations costs 580 CFA francs (US $1.07), while smuggled gasoline goes for about 425 CFA francs - a price that still represents a profit of over 60 percent for the illegal seller. Maradi’s mayor, Idi Malle, said government officials have already engaged the fight. “Most of those responsible for this incident have been arrested, others are on the run,” he told state radio this week. “There is a police raid underway throughout the city to seize gasoline stored in homes. From now on - as far as the police and customs are concerned - all those trying to break the law will be arrested.” But it is not as simple as trying to get people to obey the law, says a consumer analyst in Niger, who says the recent incident in Maradi is the result of sloppiness on the part of authorities in the border cities. “The first measure must be a restructuring to help these people transfer to other activities,” Maman Nouri, secretary general of the Niger Association for the Defense of Consumer Rights, told IRIN. “The government must take measures to outlaw [gasoline smuggling] and carry out an awareness campaign among consumers, telling them to refuse these products.” Niger loses about 5.5 billion CFA francs (roughly $10 million) per year to illegal fuel trafficking, according to Amadou Dioffo, director general of Niger’s society of petrol products (SONIDEP). He said last year, due to fraud, SONIDEP sold just 3,687 cubic metres of gas in 2005, compared to 14,185 in 1998. Dioffo said fuel smuggling must be treated as a criminal act. “No effort should be spared to protect the interests of the state,” he said.