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Oil smugglers held on Mumbai high seas

In a surprise check, the Yellowgate police in the wee hours of Sunday intercepted a boat involved in diesel smuggling near Butcher Island.

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Following the killing of additional collector Yashwant Sonawane in Manmad last week, the Mumbai Police has intensified its patrolling on the high seas, as oil and diesel smugglers have traditionally been using the sea route for their activities.

In a surprise check, the Yellowgate police in the wee hours of Sunday intercepted a boat involved in diesel smuggling near Butcher Island. They arrested five persons and seized nearly 1,000 litres of diesel along with the boat.

The arrested persons have been identified as Baliram Patil, 36, Ravindra Koli, 29, Nagesh Potanvaru, 23, Dilip Prabhu, 25, and Nilesh Raman, 40.

According to the police, officials were patrolling near Butcher Island, as there has been information that diesel smuggling takes place on this route. Around 1.30am, the police vessel spotted two boats 1km north of Butcher Island. “Some loading and unloading of plastic cans took place within the boats. Suspecting something foul, we approached the boat. One of the boats fled but we managed to apprehend the other boat, later identified as Gangotri,” said a police official.

He added that on searching the boat, 23 plastic cans containing 1,000 litres of diesel were found. The cans and boat were then seized by the police. “Patil, who is the captain of Gangotri, revealed during his interrogation that Prabhu and Raman along with their accomplice Ishwar Koli had brought the said diesel in their boat, Ikvira,” the official said.

Koli is wanted by the police in the case. The arrested persons were produced before a local court on Sunday and have been remanded in police custody till February 1. “We have sent the diesel for forensic analysis and are interrogating the accused to get more information about the other members of this gang and also to know from where the diesel was sourced,” said another police official.

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