Delhi Police unearth aviation turbine fuel smuggling racket; Six accused arrested

The Delhi Police on Monday dismantled a large-scale smuggling syndicate involved in the illegal siphoning and black-market sale of Aviation Turbine Fuel.

The cops have arrested six accused, and two have been bound down, including the godown owner, drivers, helpers, a transporter, and the illicit fuel purchaser, effectively dismantling the supply chain of this illegal enterprise.

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The cops mentioned that they have recovered 72,000 liters of ATF from a concealed godown in the Mundka area.

“We received a tip-off regarding a smuggling racket operating in the area of Mundka. With this lead, we conducted a raid at the location,” Aditya Gautam, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said.

During the raid, three oil tankers, each loaded with 24,000 liters of ATF, were found being siphoned using pipes into barrels. Two pickup trucks meant for further transportation of stolen fuel were also seized by the officers.

Additionally, six forged dip rods, duplicate master keys, barrels filled with stolen ATF, and 1.05 lakhs in cash were recovered from the site.

While probing further into the case, it came out that the ATF was originally loaded at HPCL Asoda Depot in Bahadurgarh for delivery to Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). A network of drivers, a transporter, and a godown operator colluded to divert tanker shipments of ATF to a Mundka facility.

Later, they bypassed security by using duplicate keys and forged dip rods to simulate legitimate deliveries. The stolen fuel was then sold as mineral turpentine oil (MTO) on the black market.

The DCP mentioned that this illegal operation had been running daily for the past three years, with approximately 5,000 liters of ATF stolen every day, resulting in the theft of nearly 150,000 liters monthly.

On the basis of the inquiry conducted into this matter, a case was registered at the Crime Branch police station under the relevant sections of the BNS.