Police nab oil thieves in sea off Bhaucha Dhakka

In a filmy-style operation, the Colaba police busted a racket of oil pilferage in Arabian sea off Bhaucha Dhakka in South Mumbai on Thursday, arresting five persons instrumental in stealing diesel from ships halted there.

The operation was carried out in the wee hours of Thursday. The police team, after venturing into the sea on a boat, gave the accused a chase till 10 nautical miles before managing to stop them.

The accused have been identified as Somveer Valmiki (29), Shamshullah Shaikh (50), Pritam Aadkar (25), Richard Peter (31) and Vicky Koli (31) — all residents of Raigad.

According to the police, Additional Commissioner of Police (South Region) Pravin Padwal had received a tip-off on a gang of oil thieves that steal diesel from big ships. Following the information, a team of 10 cops took to sea from Gateway of India around 1 am on Thursday and were patrolling in the sea when around 3 am they saw the culprits' boat.

Though the police tried to stop the boat, the culprits tried to speed away. The police team then chased the boat and raided it. They found a hidden chamber in the boat which can store fuel to the capacity of 5,000 litres.

"It carried around 2,000 litres of diesel then. We also recovered several pumps and other equipment from the boat. We have seized the boat, oil and other equipment and have arrested the accused," said a police officer from Colaba police station.