Cuttack: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch busted Sunday an illegal dump yard of stolen low ash metallurgical (LAM) coke in Nuapatna forest in Cuttack district. In the process 54 metric tonne (MT) of stolen (LAM) coke was also seized. Ten persons were arrested for their involvement in this illegal trade, police said Sunday.
The STF had concrete information regarding the dumping of LAM coke at a depot in Nuapatna forest under Choudwar police limits. Accordingly an STF team raided the depot where mafias had been hoarding and supplying illegally the costly material.
The STF found nine trucks loaded with LAM cokes parked at the depot. The modus operandi was LAM coke-loaded trucks en route to a particular place would be diverted to this depot. Then the miscreants would unload some of the load and send off the vehicles to their original destinations. People involved in this illegal activity would then load the stolen LAM coke and sell it to buyers who had been fixed beforehand. In the process, the mafias would earn easy money. According to an STF official the total amount of LAM coke seized was worth Rs 13,50,000 in the market.
In this connection, a case has been registered and an investigation is underway.
PNN