GUWAHATI, NOV 1: In a crackdown against oil thieves, Dibrugarh police seized 8,000 litres of stolen condensate oil from an oil tanker (AS-05-B-6685) near the Bogibeel bridge in Assam’s Dibrugarh early on Tuesday.
Four persons involved in the racket were arrested who were identifed as Dipak Changmai, Tilak Dihingia, Rajen Dihingia (driver) and Bhuban Bora (helper).
The tanker was on the way from Naharani in Sivasagar district to Dhemaji when police intercepted the vehicle.
It is suspected that the condensate oil were 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.