The Mangaluru police arrested two people on Monday night for attempting to steal petrol from the Mangaluru-Bengaluru petroleum pipeline. The arrested persons Armugam (39) and Ramesh (35), residents of Marakada in Mangaluru, were arrested by police officials near the Vamanjoor checkpost.

The duo admitted to the police that they attempted to steal petrol from a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) pipeline in Malavur near Bajpe.

Their first attempt was on November 4, 2018, but their attempt was discovered by a security guard who noticed some disturbance near the pipeline. In July this year, they once again attempted to steal petrol from the pipeline in a different location, near the railway track in Malavur, but were unsuccessful.

According to the complaint lodged at Bajpe police station by a representative of petroleum company Petronet, the miscreants fit a two-inch pipe in the 20-inch HPCL pipeline to steal petrol from the pipeline. Petronet is a joint venture between HPCL and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which maintains the petroleum pipeline between Mangaluru and Bengaluru.

The complaint stated that the pipeline was damaged between 12:30 pm on 11 July and 9:30 am on 12 July. "The miscreants had drilled a hole in our pipeline and fit a smaller pipe. They had also kept a 100m long pipe nearby. Our workers alerted us about this and we quickly took action before any petrol was stolen,” said a representative of Petronet. 

The pipeline was executed by HPCL for 397 km between the two cities at a cost of Rs 750 crore in 2016. Police officials seized pipes from the accused following the arrest. The duo was remanded to 15 days in judicial custody.