Hyderabad: The police estimates that the diesel gang dug for about a week to 10 days to tunnel through to the pipeline. The gang drilled a hole in the pipeline, installed an electric motor and fixed a hose to pilfer the diesel. The fuel was loaded into a tanker and was sold at various places.
“The gang dug a tunnel three metres deep and two metres wide to reach the pipeline. They placed a clamp and connected a pipe to take collect the diesel and load the fuel into a tanker,” Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said. He said the gang stole seven tankers full of diesel.
The gang used a drilling machine to punch a hole into the IOCL-BP pipeline. They wrapped a wet gunny sack around the drilling machine to prevent the sparks from setting the diesel on fire, a senior official said.
