Adelaide’s northern suburbs have emerged as South Australia’s fuel-theft epicentre, with Salisbury and Paralowie recording the most drive-offs in the state, new SA Police data reveals.
The 5108 postcode, which includes Salisbury, Salisbury Downs, Salisbury North and Paralowie, logged 298 fuel thefts between July 1, 2025 and mid-April this year, according to documents released by police via proactive disclosure.
The 5114 postcode, which includes several suburbs and towns such as Andrews Farm, Blakeview, Craigmore, Smithfield and One Tree Hill, recorded the second-highest number of drive-offs with 271 logged during the nine-month period.
A further 241 thefts were recorded in the 5112 postcode, which centres on Elizabeth, Elizabeth East, Elizabeth Grove, Elizabeth South, Elizabeth Vale and Hillbank.
A total of 6672 fuel thefts were reported across the state, which has been grappling with both a cost of living crisis and soaring fuel prices due to conflict in the Middle East.
Other areas with a high number of fuel drive-offs included the 5013 postcode, which incorporated Gillman, Ottoway, Pennington, Rosewater, Rosewater East and Wingfield and recorded 221 thefts; and the 5094 postcode, encompassing Cavan, Dry Creek and Gepps Cross, which logged 168 incidents.
The top 10 fuel theft hotspots by postcode were 5108 (298 incidents), 5114 (271), 5112 (241), 5013 (221), 5094 (168), 5084 (159), 5113 (149), 5008 (147), 5000 (139) and 5117 (139).
Mdibnul Mashrur manages a service station in Salisbury Downs and said people would drive off without petrol one to two times a week.
“It usually happens twice every week after 10pm,” he said.
“In some cases people come in with their jerry cans, fill them up and drive off.”
Mr Mashrur said it affects the business in both time and money.
“It’s very time consuming, we have to fill out a big form and obviously contact the police and everything,” he said.
“It also costs the business a lot.”
Motorist Mario Dugar, 77, of Paralowie, denounced fuel theft.
“Them driving off and not paying is not fair to most people doing the right thing – It’s not good,” he said.
A police spokesman on Thursday provided further data on fuel thefts in the Northern District, saying 34 incidents were recorded over the course of one week, to June 7 – almost half of which (15) were allegedly committed by first-time offenders.
“Fuel theft is an entirely preventable crime,” they said.
“Strategies have been implemented in effort to reduce fuel theft offences – this includes added signage, enhanced CCTV or improved physical layouts of retail facilities.
“However, there has been little co-operation by the sector toward preventable measures that would reduce if not mitigate occurrences of fuel thefts.”
In March, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens urged service stations to switch to prepaid bowsers or systems to prevent petrol theft.
