Six arrested for butane refilling business

CEBU, Philippines —  The regional police have arrested six men from Mandaue City and Liloan for running a butane refilling business.

The Police Regional Intelligence Division- Special Operations Group hatched the operation in three areas in Mandaue City following information from legal butane suppliers.

The suspects from Mandaue were identified as Jimwel Tejas, 26; Reynan Del Castillo, 38; Janvier Teves, 37; and Abel Gonzaga, 46. The two from Liloan were identified as Joven R. Tercio, 38, and Alejandro Malaran Jr., 27.

Police Major Ricardo Tero said the six are considered small time players. They yielded 3,203 refilled tin canisters of butane worth P143, 988; 454 empty tin canisters worth P9,988; and cash amounting to P1,446, believed to be proceeds of the sale.

“Kani sila, mudawat ra pud ni sila sa supply. Makonsiderar pud ni sila nga small time players, pero bisan pa, dako ni og epekto sa ilegal nga operasyon nila sa butane (They were also being supplied. The six are considered small time players but the discovery of their business made a dent on the operation),” Tero told The Freeman.

“We received a report and we acted on it. Dili ni nato priority for now ang butane but it does not mean nga gipasagdaan lang pud ni. It is still illegal if wala sila naka-comply sa standards nga gi-set (We received a report and we acted on it. Butane is not our priority but it doesn’t mean that we can just let it flourish. It’s still illegal if the business owners do not comply with the standards set),” Tero said.

The Department of Energy has prohibited the refilling of butane canisters and warned the public that butane canisters refilled with liquefied petroleum gas can explode easily and can cause fire.

In February this year, authorities confiscated equipment for butane refilling worth P1.7 million during an operation in Consolacion town.  Police seized 13,484 empty canisters, 1,358 filled canisters, 74 filled LPG tanks, 107 empty LPG tanks, 24 cartridge type refillers, five digital weighing scales, 12 portable gas stoves, one refiller machine, and two air compressors and a closed van multicab used for trading.

The operation was conducted jointly by the  Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-7, Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-7, Department of Energy Visayas Field Office (DOE VFO), and Consolacion Police Station.  —  JMO (FREEMAN)