Maputo — Tete (Mozambique), 24 Jan (AIM) - The Mozambican police have accused Malawian truck drivers of illegally selling fuel along the main road from Zimbabwe to Malawi, which runs through the middle of the western Mozambican province of Tete.

The Tete police say that at night the truckers remove fuel from the tanks of their own vehicles and sell it. There is a market for the fuel along the Tete corridor, since the Malawians sell it at cheaper prices than motorists can buy fuel from authorised distributors.

Thus the Malawian drivers are accused of swindling their own companies, and of unfair competition with legal fuel distributors.

The police have cracked down on this activity. According to the Tete provincial police commander, Jose Mapilele, a police operation along the corridor resulted in the seizure of 2,525 litres of diesel, and 279 litres of petrol.

He promised that this year the police will step up the battle against illegal sales of fuel. The objective, he said, was "to put an end to this evil once and for all, in defence of the Mozambican economy".