The Signature
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OPERATION “BLACK GOLD” NABS JET FU Sigonella’s Carabinieri and NCIS Team Up to Solve Case By Janine Scianna
NAS Sigonella Public Affairs
Using sophisticated methods, the alleged criminals siphoned off 100,000 liters of jet fuel at a time while operating in remote areas of eastern Sicily to avoid detection for nearly three years. They used rented vehicles and trucks, operated mostly at nighttime, and used stolen cell phone chips registered to unsuspecting customers to cover their tracks. They excavated areas of the pipeline, drilling into it and installing special valves and hosing to pump the stolen fuel into borrowed trucks. They then sold the stolen fuel on the black market, where it was used either as a kerosene-type fuel for heating buildings or mixed with other components for use as a vehicle fuel. Since October 2016, the operation caused the economic loss of 800,000
Euros—representing the stolen fuel’s cost as well as massive environmental cleanup costs. But the criminal ring’s covert efforts were still too primitive for the teamwork of Sigonella’s Carabinieri and Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Today, the 18 alleged perpetrators—14 fuel thieves and 4 accessory vehicle drivers—await trial for crimes committed during their nearly three-year long operation. A NATO pipeline runs between Augusta Bay and Sigonella. Along its 36-kilometer run, the pipe carries important JP-5 jet fuel to power Sigonella’s aircraft. The aircraft here rely on so much fuel that trucking volumes of it back and forth between the port and base would not only be inefficient, but also dangerous. The pipeline runs underground, often through isolated and privatelyowned land. Once noticeable
pressure drops in the pipeline were felt downstream, it became obvious that theft was occurring somewhere along the pipeline’s span. But where exactly that was happening? How were they doing it? And how would the authorities catch them? The Carabinieri’s operation began with identifying segments of the pipeline that would be conducive to theft and tracked the potential perpetrators. With these general locations identified, the next major challenge was figuring out how the theft scheme worked and more importantly, who the perpetrators were. Enter NCIS. Part of their investigative work involves designing custom crime-detection technology. For the pipeline case, NCIS Special Agent Joseph Todd built camouflaged infrared cameras that were installed at the suspected theft sites. Janine Scianna
Ufficio Pubblica Informazione NAS Sigonella
Maj. Salvatore Menta, Commander of the Carabinieri’s Sigonella Company, led the investigation of the jet fuel theft. (U.S. Navy photo by Janine Scianna)
Per quasi tre anni, operando in aree remote della Sicilia per non essere scoperti, i presunti criminali hanno sottratto, poco per volta, grazie all’uso di metodi sofisticati, 100.000 litri di carburante per uso aereo. Usavano veicoli e camion noleggiati, operando principalmente di notte, utilizzando schede telefoniche registrate a nome di ignari utenti per coprire le loro tracce. Scavavano in alcune aree dell’oleodotto, perforandolo e installando valvole speciali e tubi per pompare il carburante rubato a bordo di camion presi in prestito. Quindi, vendevano il combustibile rubato al mercato nero, dove veniva usato come cherosene per il
