Cops bust oil pilferage gang

The city police claimed they had busted an oil pilferage racket and arrested three members of the oil mafia. The group would steal base-oil from underground pipelines of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and sell it in the black market for profit, the police said.

Acting on specific information, a police team from Wadala police station, on Wednesday, raided a ground plus two structure beneath Reay Road railway flyover on Mazgaon Road and found a few people stealing BPCL oil. Three people, Izaz Ahmed Khan (31), Nizam Sharik (21) and Mohammed Wasim Shaikh (31) were arrested.

"The group, after having drilled a hole in BPCL's underground iron pipeline in a deserted bushy area, had made an additional pipeline connection. This pipeline was connected to a big tanker beneath the ground plus two structure from where the stolen base-oil was filled in cans using taps.

The base-oil, which is generally used as the basic ingredient for lubricants, would then be sold in the black market," said a police officer.

According to the police, base-oil is priced Rs 1,200 per 25 litre in the market, and the government gives only limited companies licence to sell this.

The police have seized 107 filled and empty oil cans and equipment used for pilferage. Those arrested have been booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, Essential Commodity Act and Damage to Public Property Act.

The police would investigate how the theft never came to the notice of BPCL and would also question a few employees in this regard. The police are also probing from when the gang had been operating.