Mumbai: The Yellow Gate police have arrested six persons, including sailors, for allegedly attempting to smuggle diesel in a boat via the Arabian Sea, near Sewri jetty.
The matter was first reported by the coastal guard officers who, on the night of November 15, noticed an unknown boat on the Arabian Sea. Upon inquiring, they found deck storage fuel tanks filled with diesel and six persons inside the boat. With further investigation, it was known that the six persons, five of them sailors, had moved the fuel using a pipeline to take it illegally to another location.
Police seize 19.5 litre of diesel
The coastal guard officers immediately alerted the police, who shortly reached the spot and took over the investigation. In those fuel decks, police found 19,500 litre of diesel, which has a market value of Rs 18 lakh.
The boat that they used to smuggle, which is valued up to Rs 3 lakh and the other items found inside the boat have been seized by the police.
Police arrest 6 sailors
Mahendra Koli, 53, a resident of Raigad district, who owns the boat, is named as the first accused. The other five accused, all sailors, are Rajendra Ganju, 34, from Jharkhand, Gurunath Koli, 50, from Raigad, Iftheqa Ishhaq, 35, from Bihar, Chhotu Turi, 29, from Jharkhand and Ashrat Ali, 40, from West Bengal. Further inquiries to find out their destination of smuggling are underway.
