A gang with a hose and “Russian Ivan” staged the theft of the century from a NATO base

In Belgium, the trial of the “theft of the century” has begun. In the dock are citizens of Moldova, Italy and Bulgaria, who have been stealing kerosene from NATO for several years. They made a tie-in into the underground pipeline through which the fuel went to the headquarters of the alliance. And so it went on for several years. How did you manage to expose the cunning scheme, and what does the Russian trace have to do with it again? Details are in the story. REN TV.

How they pulled off the “theft of the century”

This is not just a “lawsuit”, but a real visual aid for all Europeans on the topic: “How to survive a cold winter without fuel from Russia?” All you need is a little ingenuity, at least seven enthusiasts, shovels and a small drilling rig. And another 270 meters of hose, a tunnel of the same length, and a hangar in which kerosene from the NATO pipeline was pumped into fuel trucks and sent for resale. And at the same time, no one noticed the large-scale theft of fuel that began three years ago!

“Just imagine: a tunnel 270 meters long, it passes under the railway, under buildings. It goes into the hangar opposite, where pumps, pressure reducers, valves are installed. And all this without the knowledge of the authorities? Nobody saw anything? Real madness!” – says the lawyer of one of the accused, Frank Discipoli.

The story, on the one hand, is anecdotal, on the other, sadly revealing: the authorities of the EU, which unleashed a real energy war with Russia, missed under their noses, not far from Brussels, a real gang of “fuel thieves”. 2 million liters of kerosene – the equivalent of about 40,000 full fills of fuel tanks of NATO aircraft – went “left” to some dealers from Greece, who have not yet been found. At the center of the story is a Russian citizen named Ivan. Well, where is there without a “Russian trace”? Without this, not a single scandal in the West is now complete.

“I only found out about this story yesterday when I was watching the news. I’m surprised that no one knew about the theft, and I have no idea who these thieves are,” says local resident Jean-Pierre Bastien.

“Russian Ivan” and partners

The leadership of the NATO airbase admits that they learned about the large-scale theft by chance, only when one of the technicians noticed the periodic pressure drop in the pipeline. They say that the same “Russian Ivan” came up with a too complicated scheme: an American-made drilling rig worked completely silently, pumping kerosene from a NATO pipe into underground tanks.

But the resale was led by a certain citizen of Moldova, in whose name this hangar was rented. The geographic affiliation of this defendant makes us recall a very similar story: in December 2021, a gang of local citizens was covered in Romania, who for four years stole kerosene from the chimney of the US Air Force airfield – reconnaissance planes were just taking off from it, following the territory of Russia. The most revealing thing in that story is the reaction of the Romanian Minister of Defense: they say that the Americans themselves are to blame. They didn’t understand who they were talking to.

“I would call it negligence on the part of the Americans – they are not familiar enough with our culture”– said Defense Minister Vasile Dincu.

“Leakage” of NATO kerosene

So the inhabitants of a small Belgian village are now in shock: they did not know that they were living above a “fuel oasis”.

“I didn’t even know there was a NATO-owned pipeline here in the village,” Jean-Francois Debez says in surprise.

Jean-Francois is sad: in winter he will have to heat with firewood, as Russian oil and gas in the European Union is about to be completely banned, and electricity bills have already broken all records.

But the court of the city of Mons can arrange a “warm winter” in the local prison for the thieves of kerosene. The organizers are asked for up to 8 years in prison, plus they sued for damages for two and a half million euros – apparently, this is still at the old prices. Now it is even difficult to calculate how much the leak of 2 million liters of kerosene cost NATO, which is now almost worth its weight in gold.