The arrested are U B Ashok (33) of Mani, Bantwal, Sukumar (28) of Sampaje, Madikeri, Chidananda (21) of Madnoor, Puttur, Kushalappa (25) of Alankaar, Puttur, Uday Kumar (35) of Hosanagara, Shimoga, and C K Smikil (20) of Kokkada, Belthangady.
Among them the accused Ashok is the owner of 7 oil tankers. 5 of those tankers have been recovered from him. One tanker is lying in a garage while the other remaining tanker is yet to be recovered. On receiving information that his wrongdoing had been cracked by the police, Ashok reportedly offered a bribe of Rs. 3 lakhs to the CCB police. Ashok has been taken into custody along with the money.
Speaking to mediapersons Manish Kharbikar, Mangalore Police Commissioner, said that the accused would very shrewdly siphon off petrol filled from IOCL into the tanks of their vehicles. After filling the tanks with petrol, the IOCL personnel would lock the upper portion of the tank and the box set up at the place where the valve (meant to release petrol) is located in the vehicle. The keys for these locks are available only with IOCL authorities. However, the accused had created another secret tank inside the petrol tank of the vehicle which was designed in such a way that though the petrol bunk measuring units showed proper units, additional 100-200 litres of petrol/diesel would remain in the vehicle which would be later siphoned off by them by breaking open the box without disturbing the IOCL lock.
Five petrol tankers bearing registration numbers KA 19 AB 2003, KA 213532, KA 19 B 4841, KA 19 B 4847, KA 20 AB 6664, 20,000 litres of diesel, 4,000 litres of petrol, already stolen 105 litres of petrol, equipments used for stealth, 7 mobile phones, one Maruti ECO car, Rs. 3,03,930 in cash, IOCL invoices and other equipments have been recovered from the accused.
The accused were stealing about 100 litres of petrol/diesel through each tanker and had been doing so since the past three years, police said.
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