Van Found Packed With Large Amounts Of Gasoline In Miami
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Police have quelled what was a dangerous situation in Little Havana after a van was found packed with a large amount of gasoline.
As of 5 p.m., the gasoline was safely secured and the truck was impounded.
Traffic was shut down at Southwest 12th Avenue and 4th Street where the van was located. It has a huge concealed gas tank containing about 250 gallons of what is likely stolen gasoline.
Residents in the area could smell gas. They called the fire department and they discovered the truck was leaking.
Parents who had kids in a nearby school worried because they had to access the school from another street and at first, nobody was being allowed inside the building.
Eventually, the kids were escorted out of the school safely while the fire department worked to get the van removed from the area.
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo who represents the area was on the scene.
"It was leaking slightly. You could smell all of the gas," said Carollo. "Our officers were able to locate it and now we are trying to locate the owner." Carollo described the owners as a young man, about 24 years old, newly arrived in Miami.
It's not an uncommon story here in Miami-Dade where identity thieves often produce phony gas credit cards and use them or sell them to underground gas dealers who rip off service stations with the bogus credit cards. The gas is then resold to anyone in the street without regard to any safety precautions.
