Gujarat Police’s SMC busts imported coal smuggling racket in Bhachau

The State Monitoring Cell (SMC) of Gujarat Police has busted a coal smuggling racket near Samakhiyali Highway, about 2 km from Bhachau police station. The illegal operation involved stealing imported coal from trucks, mixing it with low-quality coal dust, and selling it in Morbi. The accused broke the container seals, extracted high-quality imported coal, and replaced it with low-quality coal dust before resealing the containers with duplicate seals. Truck drivers were allegedly paid ₹2,500 per tonne to assist in the theft.

The SMC team raided a warehouse in Bhachau and seized 175 tonnes of imported PCI coal worth ₹22.75 lakh and 135 tonnes of low-quality coal dust worth ₹1 lakh, making the total seizure value ₹94.29 lakh. The five accused were arrested, and cases were filed against 10 people, including transporters.

The imported PCI thermal coal arrived at Kandla Port and was transported via trailers to Rajasthan. Divyaraj Zala, a resident of Darbar Gadh, Bhachau, intercepted the trucks and diverted them to an open warehouse. There, workers would remove 50% of the high-quality coal and replace it with low-grade coal dust mixed with dirt.

Imported PCI coal costs ₹13,000 per tonne, and Divyaraj reportedly paid truck drivers ₹2,500 per tonne to steal it. Mayoddin Rasoolbhai Chauhan, a supervisor, confessed that Divyaraj procured coal dust from Morbi factories and sold the stolen coal back to Morbi industries.

During the raid, a Hitachi machine was found unloading PCI coal from an 18-wheeler trailer, while a loader and several labourers were actively working. Laxmansinh Chauhan, the truck driver, admitted that he was employed by the Viratra Company in Gandhidham. He claimed that after loading coal at Kandla, he was instructed by his employer Rahul to meet Zala near Gurukrupa Hotel in Bhachau for offloading. He also revealed that this was not the first time such illegal activities had taken place.

Imported coal trucks from Kandla Port are sealed before transportation. However, Zala’s gang broke the seals, stole the coal, and used counterfeit yellow plastic seals to re-seal the containers. During the raid, officials seized 14 packets of fake seals, each containing 40 duplicate seals.