Imported coal theft racket busted

RAJKOT: The Gir-Somnath police busted a racket of stealing imported coal of soda ash maker GHCL Ltd and arrested three people.The gang of four - the main accused is at large - used to steal the coal that was imported at Port Pipavav and brought to the company's plant at Sutrapada by road. Truck driver Sangram Makwana (26), truck owner Gordhan Joshi (58) and Imtiyaz Jamrot (38), who provided land to store the stolen coal, were arrested, while the main accused Imran Khokhar is yet to be caught.According to the police, GHCL has given the contract to transport the coal from the port to its plant to Satyam Transport. Mawkana loaded the coal in the truck in February and the vehicle was sealed by an authorized agency of the company before it left the port premises. "According to the plot, Khokhar directed the driver to bring the truck to co-accused Jamrot's farm in Una. Here, Jamrot smartly removed the seal of the truck and replaced the imported coal with inferior quality coal," said a police officer. The weight of the cargo was maintained and the seal was also put back so that an agency hired by GHCL did not suspect any wrongdoing. However, company officials got suspicious when the truck the company's facility late. They sent the samples for laboratory tests and found that the coal loaded was adulterated. A complaint was registered with the Sutrapada police station in this regard.