Rupsa: Loot of oil from Paradip-Haldia pipelines has become a regular affair as the district of Balasore has turned into a safe haven for an inter-state oil smuggling racket, a report said Thursday.
Regular police patrolling has failed to curb the pilferage. A tanker engaged in smuggling of oil overturned on National Highway-60 at Haldipada bypass in Sadar block Wednesday night.
Police said miscreants after puncturing the pipelines running through Khandahar mouza pilfered 20,000 litre of crude oil and loaded it onto the tanker. The value of the consignment is estimated at Rs 10 lakh.
The tanker overturned on the middle of the road while negotiating a diversion at Haldipada.
The driver, helper and a group of people escorting the truck escaped from the spot while the overturning of the vehicle led to spillage of a huge quantity of oil.
Basta police registered a case and started an investigation Thursday, IIC Dhaneswar Sahu said.
Earlier, Rupsa police had arrested nine members of an inter-state oil smuggling racket on the highway May 16. An oil tanker, a jeep without registration number and several sharp-edged weapons were seized from the arrested persons.
The nine were arrested when they were looting oil by puncturing the pipeline at Uadangi near the highway.
Similarly, miscreants had set fire to an oil tanker after it got stuck at a farmland when they were fleeing after pilfering oil from a pipeline at Bhangadhari bridge April 9. Later, the police arrested a truck driver and helper with a tanker loaded with 20,000 litre of crude oil April 21.
Such oil thefts have become a regular affair with the police action failing to prove a deterrent for the smugglers. Over eight cases of oil theft have been registered in Rupsa, Basta and Jaleshwar police stations so far by the authorities of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. PNN
