Customs Officers and the police arrested five persons and seized 11,500 litres of diesel as part of an investigation into the smuggling of diesel in Malta. Customs Officers have been monitoring the movements of a number of persons for a number of days and they intervened when they have observed a van driving up to a trawler in Marsamxett harbour and members of the crew appeared to be pumping fuel from the boat into containers in the van. When boarding the vessel Customs Officers confirmed that fuel was being pumped from the vessel into tanks in the van by using an electric pump. The diesel, the trawler, and two vans have been seized for further investigation.