Ghaziabad SSP busts iron bar sale racket

A large-scale scam involving stealing of iron bars from factory trucks and their subsequent sale, while evading taxes, has been busted here, Ghaziabad police chief Vaibhav Krisha, who personally led the crackdown, said on Saturday.

The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) also said that while the mastermind has been arrested, it was learnt that the scam was taking place with the collusion of local police officers and hence three officers, including two Station House Officers (SHOs), were removed from their posts.

Addressing a press conference here, Krishna said he had received intelligence that iron bars are being trafficked illegally. Therefore on Friday night, he said he conducted random checking and intensive patrolling, with personnel from five police stations, on National Highway-24 from UP Gate to Pilkhuwa, during which 20 trucks and iron bars worth around Rs 3 crore were seized.

As many as 21 persons, including mastermind Satish Yadav, who were in the business for decades were held, he added.

"After Yadav's admission that he was committing crime in collusion with thana level police, I have sent SHO Kavi Nagar Samarjit Singh, SHO Vijay Nagar Naresh Kumar Singh and police post incharge bypass Pavendra Singh to police lines," said Krishna.

According to the SSP, the drivers of the trucks, upon grilling, confessed their crime and revealed that they were operating at the behest of Yadav, who also nabbed when piloting trucks from his separate vehicle.

Divulging his method, Yadav said that he used to intercept the trucks coming out of the factory, and his men used to unload iron bars from them and put scrap of the same weight instead, due to which the theft would not be detected when the truck was to be weighed at the weighing bridge. It was direct loss to the buyer and the iron mafia was getting 100 percent profit on the stolen product, the SSP said.

"Such random checking would continue covering different sectors in future also, so that the police force is not rusted and will remain active," he added.

--IANS

sps/vd