Surat: The State Monitoring Cell (SMC) busted a racket at Kathodara village near the city on Saturday, involving the theft of imported coal and the supply of poor-quality coal to industrial units. Police seized coal and vehicles worth a total of Rs 45 lakh and arrested three people, with an FIR being registered at Kamrej police station.
Based on specific intelligence, an SMC team raided a warehouse on Khadsad Road along the Outer Ring Road. Police found 59 tonnes of imported coal, eight tonnes of a mixture of imported and poor-quality coal and 35 tonnes of waste coal mixed with soil. Police seized Rs 13,380 in cash, five mobile phones worth Rs 40,000, two trucks worth Rs 30 lakh, a car worth Rs 2 lakh and a loading machine worth Rs 7 lakh.
Police arrested Brijesh Ramesh Mathukiya, Vinay Patel and Kiyamat Ansari. Mathukiya, a resident of Kathodara, was the alleged operator of the racket while Patel and Ansari are truck drivers.
The other accused persons — Yogesh Kotadiya, Munna Patel, Jaydeep alias Jigabhai and Bholu — are absconding.
The operators would contact truck drivers transporting high-quality imported coal to industrial units from Hazira, Magdalla and Dahej.
The truck driver would have to take the truck to a spot where the accused would remove about a quarter of the good-quality coal and replace it with coal of poorer quality.
“They removed about Rs 25,000 worth of coal from one truck and targeted four or five trucks every day. The racket was being run with the involvement of drivers,” a police officer said.
Police also found that some workers at the industrial units where the coal was delivered were also part of the racket. Further investigation will reveal the involvement of the workers who did not object to the poor-quality coal.
Surat: The State Monitoring Cell (SMC) busted a racket at Kathodara village near the city on Saturday, involving the theft of imported coal and the supply of poor-quality coal to industrial units. Police seized coal and vehicles worth a total of Rs 45 lakh and arrested three people, with an FIR being registered at Kamrej police station.
Based on specific intelligence, an SMC team raided a warehouse on Khadsad Road along the Outer Ring Road. Police found 59 tonnes of imported coal, eight tonnes of a mixture of imported and poor-quality coal and 35 tonnes of waste coal mixed with soil. Police seized Rs 13,380 in cash, five mobile phones worth Rs 40,000, two trucks worth Rs 30 lakh, a car worth Rs 2 lakh and a loading machine worth Rs 7 lakh.
Police arrested Brijesh Ramesh Mathukiya, Vinay Patel and Kiyamat Ansari. Mathukiya, a resident of Kathodara, was the alleged operator of the racket while Patel and Ansari are truck drivers.
The other accused persons — Yogesh Kotadiya, Munna Patel, Jaydeep alias Jigabhai and Bholu — are absconding.
The operators would contact truck drivers transporting high-quality imported coal to industrial units from Hazira, Magdalla and Dahej.
The truck driver would have to take the truck to a spot where the accused would remove about a quarter of the good-quality coal and replace it with coal of poorer quality.
“They removed about Rs 25,000 worth of coal from one truck and targeted four or five trucks every day. The racket was being run with the involvement of drivers,” a police officer said.
Police also found that some workers at the industrial units where the coal was delivered were also part of the racket. Further investigation will reveal the involvement of the workers who did not object to the poor-quality coal.
