BRUSSELS – The number of robberies at petrol stations rose almost 70 percent last year, according to the annual report from the Belgian Petroleum Federation. The sector says the increase is worrying and hopes the new justice minister will introduce effective measures to stop the trend.

Despite significant investments in security and surveillance systems, crime in and around petrol stations is on the rise. One in ten stations has had to deal with some sort of crime. Last year petrol stations were the target of 40 armed robberies, 82 cases of (unarmed) robberies, and 75 attempted robberies, a total of 197 serious crimes. That number was 118 in 2005.

“It seems as if crime has once again shifted to the petroleum sector,” says Gaetan Van de Werve, secretary general of the Petroleum Federation. And the situation is even more worrying than the numbers indicate. “The figures do not take into account petrol thieves, the people who fill up their cars and drive away. Because that too is stealing. And the number of cases of that has risen considerably with the higher petrol prices,” Van de Werves says.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news