Bhubaneswar, May 12: Vigilance raids against Sirajuddin and Company continued for the second day today. Officials said they have seized a large number of documents.

In the raids that began yesterday, the premises of the company’s associates were searched at six different places in the state. The vigilance officials had found more than 35,000 metric tonnes of iron ore worth more than Rs 30 crores illegally deposited in a railway stockyard at Haridaspur in Chandikhol.

According to the director of vigilance department, Anup Pattnaik, six teams of the vigilance officials, along with sales tax and mining officials, conducted raids on different offices of Sirajuddin Mines and its associates Yajdani International and Balbant Ray Transporters. They also conducted raids on the offices of the deputy directors of mines at Joda and Jajpur Road.

“After getting information that Sirajuddin Mines, which had been prohibited from exporting ore outside the state, was illegally transporting shipping ore through Paradip port, we raided its stockyard at Chandikhol. We found huge amounts of iron ore there,” said Pattnaik.

Vigilance sources said that the deputy director, directorate of mines, Joda, had recently issued orders to Paradip port authorities not to allow 20 transporters to export their ore through the port. However, the vigilance officials got information that these transporters were circumventing the ban by transporting ore with the help of their associate companies.

The raids were conducted on the stockyard in Haridaspur, the office of Balabant Ray Transporters at Kuakhia, the office of Yajdani International at Fortune towers in Bhubaneswar, and two offices of deputy directors of mines, Joda and Jajpur Road.

“Our officials today returned with a large number of documents and records. These documents will be checked and verified. The process is likely to take more than three days. Only after verification, we can ascertain the actual amount of the ore transported,” said the director.