Romanian pipeline police 'stole oil'

Theft from oil pipes in Romania is an officially recognised problem

Twenty-four Romanian police have been arrested and charged with being part of an organised ring that is stealing oil from pipelines.

The officers - all from the same police department in the capital, Bucharest - were part of a unit specifically assigned to protect the pipeline.

The BBC's correspondent in Bucharest, Ciprian Baltoiu, says the arrests are part of an effort to stop widespread theft from fuel pipelines, a well-known problem in the country.

In 2001, the Romanian parliament made such theft a serious offence, raising the penalty for offenders from five years to 20 years in prison.

Hundreds of officers have been deployed throughout the country to protect pipelines after the government concluded oil companies and private guards were unable to solve the problem.

The US Trade and Development Agency signed a grant with Croatia last July to investigate how a pipeline from Romania to Italy could supply refineries in Europe with crude oil from the Black Sea.

Romania admitted in November 2000 that it had broken United Nations sanctions by secretly supplying huge supplies of fuel to Serbia during the Bosnian war.

Trade Partners UK says Romania produces about 550m tons of crude oil a year, and about the same quantity is imported.