A barge from Kakinada was prevented from offloading ‘stolen’ oil at Paradip Port even as a fresh complaint was lodged on Sunday stating that the vessel is under control of ‘rogue elements’.
“We denied permission to the barge to land in our area recently on knowing the fact that the vessel with the name Atlas Carrier was carrying stolen oil,” an official of Paradip Port said.
The barge was said to have been carrying 100 tonnes of oil. Managing Director of Atlas Offshore Pvt. Ltd D. Ananth Reddy told The Hindu that that they lodged another complaint on Sunday to the police marking a copy to the SP, Jagatsinghpur (Odisha).
Alleging that the barge was ‘grabbed’ by one of their ex-partners, he said they had lodged the first complaint almost a year ago with the Mercantile Marine Department, Coast Guard, Navy and Kakinada Police.
“After coming to know on the attempt to offload stolen oil at Paradip, we decided to file another complaint,” he said.
Complaints
There have been several complaints in the past on alleged smuggling of marine gas oil by mid-sea bunkering vessels and transportation from mother ships to feeder vessels for supply to trawlers and mechanised boats. Customs officials had also picked up an Indonesian crew along with foreign currency in the past and are probing several cases involving mid-sea pilferage of oil.
