Oil pilferage along Assam-Nagaland border

According to sources, the pilferage has been carried out in Khatkati area adjacent to national highway 39 and the same case was “a known fact” to the police of both Assam and Nagaland. 

Over a hundred oil tankers converged at a particular truck parking area in Khatkati locality. These tankers come from various oil repositories of upper Assam under police escort due to alleged threats of militant outfits operating in the area.

The tankers are escorted by police from Borpathat and Khatkati police station from Karbi Anglong-Golaghat border through the Nambor reserve forest up to Khatkati.  After a brief halt, these tankers head to various destinations in Nagaland and Manipur.

It has been reported that there were five tanker parking spaces in the area equipped with all facilities and allied services for oil pilferage by local oil barons.

“Not less than two to three hundred litters of petrol, diesel and kerosene are extracted at discounted rate from each of the parked oil tankers with help of pump sets and stored in barrels in hideouts. From there the barrels are transported to nearby areas like Dimapur, Nokhuti, 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. Sources said those engaged in the pilferage operate under tight security cover and the parking spaces were walled by high bamboo fences.

Hundreds of oil containers were fitted with pumps to siphon off oil in extreme hazardous circumstance. It may be mentioned that these parking lots were encircled by large human settlements and structures including schools, business establishments and government institutions.

It has also been alleged that local government officers and other officials were encouraging the illegal business. A group of brokers mostly from Bokajan were the intermediaries between the government officials and the oil smugglers.