The Civil Supplies-CID (CS-CID) police have arrested five persons, including oil tanker drivers, for stealing fuel while transporting it from Ennore to various petrol bunks and selling it to scrap shops in Ponneri and surrounding areas, on Tuesday.
According to police, the CS-CID, Chennai team received information about pilferage from oil tanker lorries carrying fuel to petrol bunks. Based on a tip off, they inspected a godown in Athipattu Pudhunagar and found two lorries parked inside.
“There is no need for a lorry, full of fuel, to be parked inside a godown. When we questioned the people there, they did not give proper answers. Further interrogation revealed that they were stealing diesel,” said a CS-CID officer in Tiruvallur. The lorry drivers, Gnanavel and Balamurugan, godown owners Paramasivam and Perumal, and cleaner Ramesh were detained. A total of 400 litres of diesel in two barrels and two tanker lorries were also seized.
“The lorry drivers sell the fuel to scrap dealers cheap, and they in turn sell it to others at a high price. Some scrap dealers in Ponneri and Minjur have been doing this for a long time. Some school bus drivers also used to purchase the fuel,” said the officer.
The five have been remanded to judicial custody.
