Cameras catch out petrol thief

A transport firm finally clicked it was being ripped off when it got a diesel bill for a petrol-powered work car.

Anthony Muraahi, 49, on Friday pleaded guilty in the New Plymouth District Court to the burglary of GMP Environmental Ltd, a trucking firm on De Havilland Drive in Bell Block, and 18 fraud charges after he used the firm's fuel cards to steal petrol and diesel.

Muraahi was finally busted on surveillance camera filling his own car, his mates' cars and containers in his car boot.

When the cards were cancelled, Muraahi broke into the manager's office and helped himself to a new one.

It was all over for Muraahi when the manager realised last October that something was up when the fuel bill for the company's petrol-powered car arrived and had diesel booked up on it.

His suspicions were confirmed when the fuel card continued to be used locally when the vehicle was in Auckland.

The manager cancelled the fuel card.

By this time there was about $6000 worth of dodgy charges on the card.

An internal investigation followed, which cleared the firm's own workers.

The next step was to call in a private investigator and surveillance cameras were trained on the firm's truck-stop diesel pump on De Havilland Drive where the suspicious transactions were happening.

And with that Muraahi, who did not work for the firm, was spotted on the security footage. This card too was cancelled.

But the thefts continued.

The persistent Muraahi was next caught on a security camera stealing yet another fuel card from the manager's office.

Prosecuting Sergeant Kerry Yates told the court that police wanted Muraahi's car forfeited and the firm wanted reparation of $2699.77.

Judge Allan Roberts called for a pre-sentence report to focus on upper-tier sentences. Muraahi is to be sentenced on May 28.

- © Fairfax NZ News