Six members of gang held for avaition fuel theft in Delhi

File photo

New Delhi: Six members of a gang have been arrested for allegedly stealing a huge quantity of aviation oil from the pipelines of an oil and gas company and selling it in various places across the national capital, police said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Sanjay Dhawan, Mukesh Kumar, Samay Pal, Avlesh, Himanshu and Sanjay, were arrested by a Crime Branch team of the Delhi Police, they said.

Police said that a probe was initiated after they received several complaints about a gang involved in theft of petrol, diesel and aviation oil from the supply pipelines of an oil and gas company in the area of Delhi and NCR.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bhisham Singh said, "The arrests were made after our team received information on Saturday that five members of the gang, involved in theft of aviation oil from the pipelines of oil and gas company, were coming in the area of Nihal Vihar to sell the stolen oil in a tanker accompanied by a car. A trap was laid and when the vehicles entered into a godown situated in Nilothi, Nihal Vihar, our team apprehended all the six members of the gang."

The officer said Pal and Kumar have been involved in the oil theft for more than one and a half years, and were well aware of the locations of the supply pipelines of the oil and gas company.

First, they identified an area where a tanker can reach easily near a pipeline preferably in a field of full grown crop to minimise visibility from public as well as security persons of the company and execute their operations at night, the DCP said elaborating on the modus operandi of the gang.

Other gang members -- Avlesh and Himanshu -- would dig a hole over the selected pipeline and fit a valve on it with the help of a clamp and later connect the pipeline to a tanker. After filling the tanker with oil, they would close the valve and cover the hole with soil while other gang members kept a watch, he added.

Later, they used to sell the oil at various places in Delhi to people who further sold it in retail illegally to various users, the officer said.

Police claimed to have seized the tanker used for transportation of stolen aviation oil and recovered 1,100 liters of oil along with instruments used for making holes in pipelines, a car used in commission of the crime, Rs 60,000 cash, a generator and an oil pipe from the possession of the gang members.