Thieves Are Drilling Holes In Gas Tanks And Stealing Fuel As Prices Remain High In The U.S.

People are drilling holes in gas tanks and draining vehicles of fuel as per gallon prices have spiked in recent weeks in the U.S. because of the Iran war.

The Washington Post reported that insurers are starting to see claims related to the drill-and-drain gas stealing technique.

“Let’s hope this is a short-lived phenomena,” said Brett Odom, policy vice president at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

The newspaper spoke to one motorist who described seeing his gas tank quickly falling toward empty. The motorist stopped to fill up, only discover the tank had a hole in it. “I looked under my truck, and it’s literally gas just pouring out the bottom,” Tasi Malala told the newspaper, 31. “It’s pouring out like crazy. I was freaking out.”

The cost of repairing the damage for Malala was $3,000.

The war with Iran and the resulting disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has led to a spike in gas prices in recent weeks. According to AAA, the average national price per gallon was about $4.09. That figure is actually down seven cents from a week ago as prices have stabilized since a ceasefire was announced. Oil prices decreased further on Friday as Trump announced a deal is near and Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

About 20 percent of the world’s oil supply is exported through the Strait, which borders southern Iran. Since the war started, Iran had largely stopped ships from traversing the the key waterway.

The war has also resulted in attacks by Iran on oil and gas infrastructure throughout the Middle East in retaliation for U.S. strikes.

Although the price of gas came down in the last week, it still is about 92 cents per gallon higher than it was at the same time last year, according to AAA. At $5.85 a gallon, California has the highest average gas price in the country.

The tactic is not limited to California. On April 2, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of St. Louis said that their mobile food pantry truck had a hole drilled into its gas tank.

“Yesterday, someone drilled a hole in the fuel tank of our Mobile Food Pantry truck and drained the diesel fuel,” the group wrote on Facebook. “Repairing or replacing the tank and refilling the lost diesel is only the beginning. Our Mobile Food Pantry truck is now out of service for an unknown amount of time.”

“Every dollar and every hour spent recovering from this incident is time and resources that cannot go directly toward serving our neighbors in need,” they added.