Diesel smuggling gang busted in Mumbai

Mumbai’s crime branch arrested four people for smuggling 1,800 liters of diesel, which they had procured from an international cargo ship on Saturday, January 22. Officers of the property cell and the Yellow Gate police laid a trap for the smugglers at Chamar Dock, Sewree, after they received a tip off. The accused, Mandu Madan Singh, Mohammed Salim Abdul Sattar, Samad Sattar and Mahesh Lakha Mahato, have been booked under the Essential Commodities Act and remanded to police custody. They purchased the illegal diesel from an international cargo ship for Rs 23 (US$0.51) per liter and were going to sell it to local fishing trawlers for about Rs 35 (US$0.77), said the police. The diesel mafia is active in Mumbai, despite the fact that the seas are heavily patrolled. Under the guise of fishing trawlers, smugglers have been purchasing diesel from international cargo ships. (January 23, 2011)