inp.polri.go.id - Palembang. The South Sumatra Regional Police are taking firm law enforcement action amidst the adjustment to the fuel price increase. The Special Criminal Investigation Directorate of the South Sumatra Regional Police is cracking down on subsidized fuel misappropriation in Musi Rawas Regency.
Police officers raided an illegal warehouse on the Lubuk Linggau-Sorolangun Highway. A total of 12 perpetrators were caught red-handed transferring and adulterating subsidized fuel and were arrested without resistance.
This disclosure represents a swift response from the South Sumatra Regional Police to public concerns regarding fuel shortages amidst the dynamics of national energy prices.
“The perpetrators illegally siphon and reduce the fuel load from fuel tankers that are supposed to be distributed to the public through official gas stations," said the Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the South Sumatra Regional Police, Senior Superintendent Doni Satrya Sembiring, in a written statement on Thursday (4/23/2026).
He explained that the stolen subsidized fuel was then stored in an illegal warehouse and strongly suspected of being adulterated with refined oil before being resold at high prices for personal profit. From the raid, officers arrested 12 suspects with their respective roles in the network, ranging from the rogue fuel tanker driver, the warehouse manager, to the field workers.
Police also confiscated several pieces of vital evidence, including one fuel tanker, dozens of water tanks containing illegal fuel, operational equipment including hoses and suction pumps, and five operational vehicles belonging to the syndicate.
Doni emphasized that this operation is a concrete manifestation of the state's presence in eradicating the energy mafia that is causing misery to the people.
"We will not allow mafia practices that harm the state and the people to continue. Misappropriation of subsidized fuel, especially amidst the current price hikes, is a serious crime that exploits the people's suffering. We will take firm action without exception." said Doni.
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