Oil theft racket busted, four persons arrested by Tinsukia police

A CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH: In a massive crackdown against oil theft, Tinsukia police on Saturday arrested four persons and seized 14,000 litres of stolen condensate oil from Dibrugarh districts. Sources said oil pilfering and stealing oil by cutting oil pipelines have been going on in an organised way in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts.

Tinsukia DSP Hiranya Kumar Borah who led the operation said that based on information from Oil India Limited (OIL)'s security team, a raid was conducted in Tinsukia town which led to the recovery of 6,000 litres of stolen condensate oil from two vehicles, a dump truck and a winger passenger vehicle.

The oil which was pilfered from OIL pipelines was kept in the containers of 200 litres each. "We arrested the drivers of the two vehicles who told us that the stolen oil was supposed to be taken to a dhaba which is located near NH-37 in Chabua area of Dibrugarh district," he said.

"We also came to know that the adulteration of oil was being carried out from a barricaded godown located behind the dhaba. The gang with the connivance of the tanker drivers used to take out certain amount of oil (diesel or petrol) from the tankers and replace it with cheap condensated oil. The tankers transport oil from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plant in Digboi to various locations of the north east," the DSP said.

"We raided the dhaba and the godown and seized 8,000 litres of oil which were stolen from the oil tankers. The owner of the dhaba who is the kingpin of the racket is absconding. However we have arrested two of the gang members," the DSP said.

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