Petrol theft expected to rise in Australia as police call for more CCTV and prepaid pumps

Amid a surge in fuel prices and fear of shortages, SA police chief signals officers might stop investigating drive-offs' unless service stations install prepaid pumps

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The rusty green fuel trailer hardly looks like it is worth stealing. But some time before 1 March it was hooked up to the back of a vehicle and taken from a property at Huntley, south of Orange, in the New South Wales central tablelands.

It was just another in a series of thefts that police across Australia are keeping a watchful eye on.