Bhadrak: Despite raids, coal smuggling has not stopped in many parts of Bhadrak as the mafia continues to carry out the illegal business in Dhamra area here.
A racket has been actively pushing this trade, leaving police in jitters. The ongoing illegal trade came to the fore again when police raided the area Wednesday and seized over 200 packets of coal loaded in two vans. Four people were arrested. Keeping this in view, an RPF team, who has been assigned to guard the Bhadrak-Dhamra railway line, will take up routine patrolling along the railway line. After this seizure, a 15-member team of RPF has started search operations in the area to trace more illegally stolen coal.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided Chhatrapada village under Tihidi block in the wee hours of Wednesday and seized the coal. One of the vans had no registration number, sources said. Of the arrested, two belong to Chhatrapada and two are of Gopinathpur.
The four were handed over to Bhadrak railway police. Police suspect that a bigger racket is involved in the coal smuggling.
Coal is transported from various mines of the state in trains to Dhamra port. Coal has high demand for brick kiln owners and road-side eateries in north Odisha. Coal are packed and stocked alongside roads in the area.
Coal is pilfered from running goods trains on Bhadrak-Dhamra railway line even in broad daylight while coal mafia are ferrying it on water routes to evade glare of the police, a report said. People climb on utility poles along the railway tracks and drag out coal from running trains.
In the past, many have died and some been wounded while pulling coal from trains in this manner.
Last year, the then SP Anup Kumar Sahu and Collector Gyanaranjan Das had drawn up a blueprint to curb coal smuggling. Accordingly, police had carried out raids in the area, but now the situation is back to square one in Dhamra, sources said.