DIBRUGARH: Dibrugarh police have arrested four persons in connection with stealing condensate from an oil tanker near the Bogibel bridge in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh on Thursday.
Police have seized 8,000 litres of stolen condensate oil from an oil tanker (AS-05-B-6685) near the Bogibeel bridge.
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Four persons involved in the racket were arrested and were identified as Dipak Changmai, Tilak Dihingia, Rajen Dihingia (driver) and Bhuban Bora (helper).
The tanker was on the way from Naharani in the Sivasagar district to Dhemaji when police intercepted the vehicle.
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It is suspected that the condensate oil was stolen from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) or Oil India Limited (OIL)’s crude oil transportation pipelines by tampering with it.
It may be mentioned that due to rise in oil thefts and pilferage, Oil India Limited in October 2021 had introduced drone surveillance services for its installations and oil and gas pipelines in Assam to curb pilferage of crude oil, condensate, theft of pipes, tampering of well heads and tapping of crude oil delivery pipelines. The drone surveillance project aims to curb miscreant activities in various OIL locations by – enabling real-time/near real-time detection of intruders, faster detection of fire incidents, crude oil leaks and spills.
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“Oil stealing is a common practice in upper Assam area and oil thieves are very active in the area and in a organised way they are stealing oil and condensate from oil tankers and oil pipelines after cutting them,” said a police source.