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Then, it is simply a matter of delivering the cut-rate fuel to a network of unscrupulous drivers and business owners.

On Sunday, it was just after sunset at a Surrey, B.C., intersection when a mysterious white panel van collided with a pickup truck before quickly speeding off.

The van made it only four blocks, however, before flames believed to have been ignited by the crash forced the driver to abandon the vehicle and flee on foot into the surrounding industrial area.

On Oct. 7, a van driving through a quiet south Vancouver neighbourhood suddenly became completely engulfed by fire. The flaming van crashed into an SUV before slamming into a concrete wall.

The two men operating the van slipped away as firefighters moved in to evacuate the surrounding area and extinguish the blazing vehicle, which emitted several explosions before it was finally brought under control. Nevertheless, the pair were quickly discovered when they checked into Eagle Ridge Hospital with “life-altering burns.”

Under the right conditions, it is commonly said that the vapour from one U.S. gallon (3.78 litres) of gasoline is commonly said to have the explosive power of more than 10 sticks of dynamite.

And, with black market gas carriers carting around up to 1,800 litres at a time in poorly ventilated vehicles, a single spark could conceivably scorch entire blocks worth of unsuspecting houses.

More alarming still: they could be anywhere.

By looking at them from the outside you’d never know that it’s been modified to carry large quantities of gasoline

“It’s fairly easy to disguise; most of these vans are modified in a way that, by looking at them from the outside you’d never know that it’s been modified to carry large quantities of gasoline,” said Const. Montague.