KOCHI: After 192 domestic LPG cylinders were seized from a house in Choornikara during a raid, the Ernakulam Rural Police have started checks at all parts of the district to nab people involved in the illegal sale of LPG cylinders in the black market.
Following a tip-off, police raided a shop at Keezhilam near Rayamangalam and recovered 15 LPG cylinders from various petroleum companies on Wednesday night.
Ernakulam Rural Police Chief Vivek Kumar has directed all police stations to ramp up operations. Technically, it falls on the Legal Metrology Department to curb such illegal activities under the Essential Commodities Act. Still, the police have decided to take action in the wake of rampant illegal activities in Ernakulam district.
It was on Wednesday night, Kuruppanpadi police received a tip-off that LPG cylinders were being sold illegally at a shop in Keezhilam. At around 10 pm, police launched a surprise raid and found 15 gas cylinders of Hindustan Petroleum, Bharath and Indane at the shop.
“Four were filled cylinders of 14.2-kilogram domestic category. Similarly, there were four empty domestic cylinders. Apart from that, there were two 19-kilogram empty gas cylinders and four LPG-filled 5-kilogram mini cylinders. There were also 11 LPG cards found in the house. The accused was procuring cylinders allotted to other persons using their card and sold it at a higher price to hotels and wayside eateries, charging a high price,” the police officer said.
Aluva DySP A Prasad, who supervised the raid at the house in Choornikara leading to the recovery of 192 domestic cylinders, said that the role of gas agencies and people who assisted these illegal traders will be probed.
“It is hard for a common man to arrange as many as 192 gas cylinders. We suspect that the accused persons were supported by people at the gas agencies. We have to conduct a further probe to get a real picture of how they procured such a huge number of cylinders. For this, they have to be interrogated after taking them into custody with the court’s permission,” he said.
The price of a domestic cylinder (14.2kg) is Rs 1,110, and the price of a commercial LPG cylinder (19kg) is Rs 2,140 in Kochi. Aluva Station House Officer MM Manjudas said that the accused persons procured domestic cylinders from gas agencies and people who have multiple cylinders by giving additional prices. Later, they split LPG from domestic cylinders to commercial cylinders to gain additional profit.
“They thrived on price margin differences between commercial and domestic cylinder prices. We also recovered a motor used for moving LPG from domestic cylinders to commercial cylinders. They then sell these cylinders to restaurants and wayside eateries that are desperate for LPG. As there is a dearth of LPG cylinders for commercial purposes, restaurants and eateries are ready to pay more than the price of commercial cylinders sold by agencies,” Manjudas said.
Police also have shared information about the illegal sale of LPG cylinders with the Legal Metrology Department so that surveillance activities can be enhanced. Police also suspect the people selling LPG cylinders in the black market are doing weight manipulation by filling less gas in cylinders to gain more profit.