The owners of a gas station are accusing the driver of a van, and possibly others, of stealing more than 1,000 gallons of fuel in a very sneaky and clever way, in plain sight.
Jerry Thayil and his family own and run the Fuqua Express gas station in Houston, Texas and say they witnessed a van drive up to their gas station, park over the in-ground caps where the underground fuel storage tanks are filled and allege that the van possibly had a trap door in the floorboard where those inside were able to siphon hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel, then drive away with it.
“The way they did it was very sneaky. They were doing it in front of so many people – so many different customers," Thayil told KHOU.
As Click2Houston reported, Thayil said that he began noticing shortages in the fuel tanks and started watching surveillance camera footage. He says that he believes his family business was hit on three separate occasions and that around 350 gallons of diesel were stolen each of those times.
He was seen on camera confronting a green van as it sped away.
“As soon I saw him drive over the tanks, I sprinted out of the office,” said Thayil.
Thayil said that he believes another car was there acting as a lookout for the van.
“We have bills to pay, we got employees that count on us, that need that money,” Thayil said.
