KARACHI – Police have uncovered the largest oil theft tunnel in the Karachi’s history, successfully preventing an attempted oil heist from the National Oil Refinery.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) conducted a raid and arrested four suspects involved in the operation.
Police said the criminals had constructed a 140-meter-long tunnel to siphon oil from the National Oil Refinery’s pipeline leading to Punjab.
The tunnel, which was dug 16 feet deep, was located beneath a fabric warehouse in Mehran Town. It was 4 feet wide and specifically designed to access the refinery’s oil line for illegal purposes.
Police seized various items related to the operation, including clamps, pipes used in the theft, and tools employed for digging the tunnel.
The suspects are now in custody as investigations continue.
Authorities have lauded the operation for preventing a significant loss of resources and disrupting a major criminal network involved in large-scale oil theft.
Last year, an incident of oil theft from a government pipeline at Pak-Arab Refinery Company (PARCO), had been reported from Karachi’s Bin Qasim area.
Following a complaint by a PARCO employee, a case had been registered at the Bin Qasim police station against three individuals for allegedly stealing oil from the petroleum line of PARCO.
The three accused identified as Abdul Wahab, Javed, and Hasan Jatoi were named in the FIR for allegedly stealing oil from the PARCO line. According to the FIR text, the accused Javed and Hasan rented out the warehouse and allegedly clipped the PARCO pipeline for diesel theft.
The police officials stated that there is no arrests have been made in connection with the incident so far. The police officials recalled that the cases of oil theft from government lines were also registered last year, however, the ringleader of the group involved in stealing oil could not be arrested.
