Police seize condensate oil and pilferage equipment in Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh, Jan 21: Oil theft and pilferage, which once was believed to have been stopped in the region due to continuous police actions and concerted surveillance by the concerned public sector units, is still to be neutralized.

A major seizure of the suspected condensate oil and apparatuses used in pilferage and its illegal trade from a jungle area in Bogoritolia under Rohmoria police station here yesterday is a testament to the chronic illegal activity in the oil and gas exploration areas of Upper Assam.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team located the illegal makeshift warehouse inside a jungle in Bogoritolia village, some 32 km from here. However, the temporary warehouse was reportedly found in an abandoned state as the thieves had fled from the scene, leaving behind the huge quantity of the suspected condensate oil and other items.

In all, the police team seized nine 200-litre capacity gallons of suspected condensate oil containing about approximately 1800 litres, nine 200-litre capacity empty gallons, fifty 50-litre capacity empty gallons, two oil cutter pipes of about 50 metres each, oil pipeline cutting implements and three kilograms of chemical substances suspected to be used to prepare diesel from crude oil, police authorities here informed.

Stealing oil from transportation pipelines and tankers in the oil field areas of Upper Assam by miscreants is quite common. In the past, miscreants had even dared to remove the valves of a Christmas tree of a pipeline to steal oil. The pilferage racket was believed to have been curtailed by the police in the recent past but yesterday's seizure is a revelation that the oil theft ring is still active and operating secretly.