The oil tankers are escorted by police force of Borpathat and Khatkhati police station from Karbi Anglong- Golaghat border through the Nambor reserve forest up to Khatkhati. Here the fleet of oil tankers have to linger for quite a long period of time before being shepherded by paramilitary force to various destinations of Nagaland and Manipur. Providing amenities for truck parking has taken on the shape of a business for oil pilferage from the parked oil tankers. Right from Khatkhati to Lahorijan, the threshold of Dimapur city of Nagaland, more than five truck parking space has developed with all facilities and allied services for oil pilferage by local oil moguls who have an all encompassing network which penetrate deep within maximum law enforcing agencies of the area.

“Not less than two to three hundred litres of petrol, diesel and kerosene are extracted at discounted rates from each of the parked oil tankers with the help of pump sets and stored in barrels in hideouts. From there the barrels are transported to nearby areas like Dimapur, No Khuti, Naokata, Bet Mahal etc. Here the oil is sold to various purchasers including petrol pump owners. Everything is done with the help of the driver and helpers of the oil tankers” said a member of an NGO based in Bokajan.

Bizarrely the parking lots which apparently give the impression of being a resting place from the outside allows the mammoth extent of pilferage. Here the pilferers operate under tight security covered by high bamboo fence; hundreds of oil containers are filled with powerful siphon pumps under extreme hazardous circumstances. The pilferage goes on ignoring the possibility that at any instant a major disaster can take place, leading to an extremely large firestorm. The parking lots are encircled by large human settlements including schools, business establishments and government institutions, still the illegality is allowed to continue by the authority. “Thousands of people of the locality are passing days sound asleep over an active volcano, any moment a catastrophe can go off. The antisocial elements also store hundreds of oil containers in inaccessible places close to human habitation. People of the area have raised the issue in a number of forums but competent authority has not initiated any action inspite of knowing the perilous side of the whole illegality. It is alleged that local officers and the superiors of the government departments are encouraging the business for filling their treasure chest. Otherwise how these anti socials are functioning such misdemeanor uninterrupted if not agents of different authority are pillaging their pound of flesh from the piece of occurrence” maintained the member of the NGO.

According to a local of the area, after extracting oil from the tanker, kerosene or diesel mixed with particular biological solvent is decant in the tanker to maintain the standard quantity and density of the oil contents of the tanker.

It may be mentioned here that a group of brokers mostly from Bokajan are functioning as the go-between government officials and the oil smugglers. In rare occurrence Khatkhati police of Assam and Nagaland police of Dimapur have acted against this organized crime. Few years back Nagaland police banished the operatives from Naga soil while Karbi Anglong police arrested a number of big operators but the gang of power brokers counterbalanced the issue by plummeting influence of law enforcers at certain price and the matter retrieved back to square one.

Recently, Assam police rummaging around the locality seized 160 containers of petrol, diesel and kerosene from a hideout purportedly run by Sanjoy Singh and Satish Singh. Police also seized assorted appliances necessary for pulling out oil from tanker. Both Sanjoy Singh and Satish Singh have been arrested, a case has been registered against them under Section 379 & Section34 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and they have been remanded to police custody.

Sushanta Roy