Ras Al Khaimah gas cylinder racket comes to light

Ras Al Khaimah: Inspectors of the Civil Defence Department here caught employees of a gas agency red-handed as they were changing markings indicating production dates and information pertaining to the original owners of the expired gas cylinders.

According to Major Abdullah Hanhon, who heads the Dangerous Materials Section at the department, the inspectors found the labourers erasing the logos of the original companies and expiry dates printed on the cylinders and inscribing unauthorised and misleading information in an attempt to reintroduce them into the market.

Hanhon said the violation was of an extremely serious nature because of the risk it posed to the unsuspecting consumers.

He said the labourers were found using flame torches to erase the original information inscribed on the cylinders, which in itself was a procedure fraught with danger.

Major Hanhon stressed that the inspectors seized two gas cylinders that had a undergone complete change of original information and several others that were being tampered with.

The company was in violation of property ownership rights of the original owners of the cylinders and of causing them losses, the official said.

Hanhon said the offending firm would face stiff penalties and legal action.

As per instructions from the Central Civil Defence Department at the Ministry of Interior, he explained, gas filling companies are required to clearly print their names and logos, along with production and expiry dates, on cylinders so that customers can easily verify them.

He said that the department's inspectors had been instructed to make frequent inspection calls at gas filling companies in the emirate to ensure total compliance with the civil defence department's instructions.

A related law followed in the emirate states that cooking gas cylinders that are older than 15 years are not allowed to circulate in the local markets.

Such cylinders are to be handed back to the emirate's civil defence department to be destroyed in the safest manner possible.

Gas distributors in the emirate are however exploiting customers and often charge more when they deliver cylinders that are relatively newer than ones that are being replaced.

Hanhon said the violation was of an extremely serious nature because of the risk it posed to unsuspecting consumers.