Russian Investigators Probing 13 People Over Druzhba Pipeline Contamination - Lawyer
The number of people being investigated as part of a criminal case on oil theft and contamination of the Druzhba pipeline has risen to 13, the lawyer of one of the defendants, Dmitry Natarius, said.
SAMARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2019) The number of people being investigated as part of a criminal case on oil theft and contamination of the Druzhba pipeline has risen to 13, the lawyer of one of the defendants, Dmitry Natarius, said.
The delivery of Russian oil to Eastern Europe through the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily halted in late April after it was discovered that the fuel was contaminated with organic chlorides. According to investigators, the tainted oil was poured into the pipeline by a group of individuals who wanted to cover up their theft of pure oil.
Initially, the Samara office of the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against six people, later the number climbed to 10.
"The number of those under probe totals 13. The new [suspects] are Pyatiletova N. K., Rubtsov N. I. and Tsukanova O. V. All three are employees of company Transneft Druzhba," Natarius told reports.
Investigators has not yet commented on the information.