They allegedly reset meters and padded the charges of some customers in an attempt to cover up the theft. BP in Singapore and ExxonMobil in Texas reported more than $500,000 worth of fuel was involved.

Soo Dong Kim, manager of the CF Inc., an operator of locally based fishing vessels, was arrested, along with Mobil Oil stock officer Aipolo Mao and fuel dock operator Apineru Tasimani and BP fuel dock operators Savili Anesone and Mickie Kitiona.

Special agents from the territorial government office made the arrests last Friday, working with the FBI office in the U.S. territory.

The defendants face charges ranging from conspiracy and felony stealing to receiving stolen property. Court documents did not state the total amount of money that was lost in the scheme, but the companies said the FBI was brought in because the theft exceeded $500,000 and occurred on government property.

The case has been bound over to the High Court for the arraignments of Mao, Tasimani, Anesone and Kitiona. Kim's preliminary examination is set for Wednesday.

Officials said representatives of BP's office in Singapore and ExxonMobil in Houston contacted the FBI office in Honolulu in June to report the theft of large quantities of fuel from the terminal, which is operated by BP but owned by the territorial government.

Court documents say the petroleum company employees would fuel one of Kim's fishing vessels and fuel meters would be reset or the bill would be "padded" on to the next customer.

In a typical case, the charges said, Kim would request 14,000 gallons of fuel, one of the defendants would dispense 10,000 gallons and then reset the meters to zero and pump an additional 4,000 which is all he'd pay Mobil for. He'd then pay an agreed-upon price, usually about half the value, to the company employees, who investigators estimated made about $90,000 with the scheme.