By This here is probably just the tip of the iceberg in regards to fuel fraud going on within USFK:
A Korean soldier serving in the U.S. Army and five other South Koreans have been arrested in connection with the theft of more than $100,000 in diesel fuel meant for delivery to Camp Casey in Dongducheon, Yangju police said.
The 22-year-old Korean Augmentee to the U.S. Army was arrested last week along with the others, who were employed in various roles in the fuel-delivery business, police said.
Police would not fully identify the arrested soldier and no charges had been filed as of Monday evening.
Police said that on more than 50 occasions since November, drivers would deliver diesel to Camp Casey but would not dump their entire loads. The Korean soldier, who was stationed at the base, facilitated the partial deliveries, police said.
The drivers would deliver the rest of their fuel off post, where it was sold to gas stations and garages at bargain prices, according to police reports.
More than 100,000 liters of fuel with a market value of about $112,000 was stolen, police said. [Stars & Stripes]
This KATUSA isn’t going to like ROK Army prison which is where he will be going. The ROK Army does not like having its soldiers embarrass the force in front of the US military. Just being a KATUSA in ROK Army prison is going to be bad enough for him. For those that don’t know, the regular ROK Army soldiers do not care much for KATUSA’s.
Anyway, I knew a cab driver in Uijongbu who got fired from his AAFES cab driver job because he got caught skimming fuel for his own personal use from the pumps they had at Camp Red Cloud for the cab drivers. He told me that everyone else there was doing the same thing, but he was just unlucky when CID happened to be investigating the place and he got caught and fired.
With that story in mind it just makes me wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to fuel truck theft; are all the fuel truck drivers pulling off this scam and these are just the few unlucky ones to get caught?
1:01 pm on February 4th, 2010 1
When I was stationed at "Palgongsan", north of Taigu, and a radar site,(which I believe no longer exists), in 1974, I was responsible for ordering heating fuel as well as checking when it was delivered.
I would have to put my dipstick (no, not what you're thinking), a pole measured in feet, to the bottom of each tankload of fuel when it arrived, to measure its fullness, to the inch. This was to ensure that the truck was full to begin with.
Upon departure, I was required to do it again to ensure the fuel truck was empty. No big problem, but no fun on the top of the highest mountain in southern Korean come January, with a wind chill of minus 50 degrees.
1 year 6 months later I am called in by the OSI, because my replacement was caught with over $10,000 plus numerous other "large gambling expenses" while doing my old job.
He apparently had worked with the delivery driver and was ordering lots of heating fuel and not doing any measurements, if any at all. He split the profits with the drivers, and was getting rich.
When caught, he said "the guy before me was doing the same". Hence I wrote a long statement for the OSI, and offered to appear at his court marshal, (denying any previous involvement), in Korea.
I was never called to testify, and my understanding was that he was convicted.
1:58 pm on February 4th, 2010 2
I knew an old guy in the States who was retired OSI. He had been all over Europe and Asia. He said Koreans were the BEST by far at scamming the US military.
In some cases, they knew they were being scammed but were never able to figure out how.
I remember one story where fuel was missing from a big tank. Deliveries were triple-checked and the tank was well-guarded. Still, each month, a substantial amount of fuel was missing.
Finally, they found a small underground line tapped into the bottom of the tank running off-base where ajushi would fill up jugs.
This old guy really admired Koreans… but his stories didn't make a lot of sense until I got here.
The worst thing is… is if I went on Osan right now with the will to do so, I'm sure I could find a fuel tank somewhere with the same scam going on.
Nobody on a two-year tour knows, or wants to know, what is going on. Anybody who has homesteaded with their Korean wife is in on a scam somewhere.
…another good story was how he came to Korea TDY and the enlisted guys were ordered not to buy any hookers.
The officers were gettin' some every night.
One of the guys with him spoke Korean so they went out and got some hookers… insuring they all had some kind of rot.
Then they sent them to the offer's rooms.
Poor double-standard officers came down with a number of cases of non-specific urethritis.
1:18 am on February 5th, 2010 3
I worked on an underground fuel pipeline called the Trans Korea Pipeline (TKP) during my tour. We had some fairly strict accountability rules such as continual measurements, sealing of the tanks on fuel trucks, etc. Our KATUSAs seemed to fearful of the ROK military justice system to play games. That said, if someone were to show me evidence Corporal Jang, Mr. Choi or SPC Jones were in a fuel selling racket, I would not be at all surprised.
It seemed to me the biggest problem was civilians not connected to the unit tapping into the pipeline off post. I found it amazing they would try as the fuel line was under high pressure!
3:59 am on February 5th, 2010 4
This can't be true. Koreans are kind and honest people. No Korean would ever scam or steal, especially from foreigners. This is America's fault, maybe Japan's too, or some English teacher's fault.
3:59 pm on February 23rd, 2010 5
Katusa make not many money. This Korea, person's don't understand Korea culture.
5:05 pm on February 23rd, 2010 6
Ahhhh. The good old Korean Special Situation (KSS) argument has been trotted out.
"This Korea, person’s don’t understand Korea culture."
Sure we do. Thievery, graft and corruption are international concepts well understood almost universally. I guess you are implying Korean culture is based on deceit and dishonesty. I'd be somewhat willing to go along with your assessment, from personal experience.
That is no matter your income level.
4:00 am on April 22nd, 2010 7
[...] in ROKdrop. It seems a Korean-American conspired with Korean soldiers to steal fuel from the US army. http://rokdrop.com/2010/02/03/katusa-soldier-arrested-for-connection-to-fuel-theft-ring/ [...]
10:15 am on January 23rd, 2012 8
lol