Mumbai Police Seize Ship and Arrest Oil Smugglers

Local police of Mumbai, India have claimed that on Sunday they busted a racket of an oil smuggling mafia after arresting two men and seizing their ship which was anchored off the coast of Mumbai and pumping petrol for diesel for smuggling in the city.

The two suspects known as Abdul Kadar, 35, and Akbar Pingar, 45, were using the vessel Sahar Sevak as a floating petrol bunk 8 miles off the coast of the Dongri area.  The ship was raided and seized on Sunday, as reported from special detection squad official of the Mumbai police.

The vessel that was seized is believed to be owned by neither of the men in question, as well as that there was currently no oil on the ship at the time of the raiding. 

Mumbai police said that the oil smuggling team obtains the petrol by pumping from containers of arriving ships into the Mumbai coast and keeping the captains aboard the Sahar Sevak.  Once the oil is brought inland, it is sold at low prices in the market, mainly to fishermen. 

This effort is in response to last week’s police seize of 50,000 litres of diesel and petrol stored on an anchored vessel in the sea with the arrest of six smugglers.