The seized pipes at Duliajan police station. Telegraph picture

Dibrugarh, April 20: Three securitymen of petroleum giant Oil India Limited were among six persons apprehended today in this Assam district for their alleged involvement in a pipe theft racket.

The OIL’s security department also seized iron and steel pipes worth Rs 8 lakh and a 709 mini truck, which was being used to ferry the stolen pipes from Oil Collecting Station 7, at Madhuting Rangagora, 6km from Duliajan police station.

A special inspector of the company’s security department, Gopal Bora, told this correspondent over phone from Duliajan, the company’s field headquarters, that the raid was conducted around 3am on the basis of “reliable inputs”. He said six persons were apprehended and some pipes and a vehicle seized.

“The gang had cut the 30-feet-long pipes into three pieces of 10 feet each using mechanised cutters. In all, 60 pipes of 10-feet length and 4-inch diameter were found loaded in the truck. The truck had moved about 100 metres from the OCS when we intercepted it. We apprehended the three persons in the vehicle and later three securitymen at the OCS,” he said. The fourth securityman at the OCS is on leave, he added.

The six persons apprehended include the security-in-charge of OCS 7, Ajoy Konwar, who is an ex-serviceman, homeguards Makhan Saikia and Ritu Bora, driver of the vehicle, Papu Dutta, his assistant Bijoy Tanti and Ganesh Mahatu, a resident of Santipara in Dibrugarh town. All of them have been handed over to the police and a case has been registered at Duliajan police station. The securitymen were arrested for dereliction of duty.

The officer-in-charge of Duliajan police station, Rajib Saikia, said over phone that the arrested persons had told interrogators that the pipes were to be transported to Sivasagar through the Tingkhong Rajgarh Moran route. “The arrested men have also revealed the names of some persons involved in the illegal business but we would not like to disclose the names now as it might hamper investigations,” he added.

The arrest of the securitymen and rising cases of theft of company assets have thrown up allegations of an unholy nexus between some senior officials of OIL and rich scrap merchants.

OIL’s official spokesman Phanindra Kumar Deva Choudhury said there could be loopholes in the company’s security set-up but declined to comment on the alleged involvement of senior officials. He said the matter was being investigated.

The company has a security set-up to guard its men and machinery in Duliajan and operations areas. Sources said this security apparatus might not be up to the mark, giving pipe thieves an open field to operate.

The company has hundreds of wells scattered over thousands of square km in its operational areas. Many of these wells have been closed down and surveillance in these areas is almost nil. At times, the company maintains stores in these areas and hires the services of unarmed private guards. A company insider said iron thieves and scrap merchants often lure these poorly paid guards with money. Sources said the company had stocked new and valuable imported high-end iron and steel pipes, used for gas lines, at OCS 7. To guard these assets, it had appointed the four-member team of private guards, led by Konwar.