According to his information, the situation was especially serious before September 2003, when the amount of stolen oil was growing by the months. 1,800 tonnes of oil were stolen daily from oil pipelines in September alone. The damage from it amounted to five million roubles. The situation improved radically after the change last October of the command of the police guard regiment under the Chechen Interior Ministry, which guards oil facilities in the republic. During a short period of time the police guards managed to perceptibly reduce oil stealing. According to the information of the Chechen Interior Ministry, oil stealing was reduced in the fourth quarter of 2003 by 70,000 tonnes, as against the third quarter. Criminal proceedings on 17 cases were instituted at that time (the figure for the whole year is 65). 800 tonnes of oil and oil products were recovered from the illegal oil processing. 464 mini-oil refineries, which produced low-quality petrol and diesel fuel, were destroyed. 75 people were arrested on charges of oil stealing. Economic effect from the work of the police guards amounted to 182 million roubles. Men of the police guard regiment staged another operation against illegal oil dealers in a rural area near Grozny on Sunday. They destroyed their oil tank with a capacity of 20 tonnes and liquidated two holes in an oil pipeline, through which oil was stolen. PIN//ITAR - TASS