Pig Iron Thefts On The Rise In Batala

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BATALA – There is a new kind of thieves active in the city. The Batala police call them “pig iron” burglars as they are stealing this type of iron and selling it at far-away places after getting it melted and thereby removing evidence of their crime.

In the last two months, as many as a dozen cases have been registered at various police stations. All these thefts have been reported from the industrial area on the Batala-Amritsar road, forcing the police to set up half a dozen police pickets in the area apart from cordoning it off at night.

“A dozen cases have been registered. Apart from these, we know of nearly 26 incidents where pig iron ingots (bricks) have been stolen,” said a businessman, whose factory saw two thefts in a span of a week.

Industrialists had held a protest rally last week over police “inaction”. Following this, several measures have been taken to check these robberies.

Daljinder Singh Dhillon, SSP, said, “We have identified the gang and will arrest all its members within the next 48 hours. Initially, I had asked businessmen to keep chowkidars at night. However, they were not very receptive about the idea. Hence, we have deployed more police for night vigil on PCR motorcycles. Apart from this, we have also set up police pickets in areas which are most vulnerable to thefts,” he said.

The SSP added that pig iron ingots were being taken to places like Mandi Gobindgarh and Jalandhar where they are sold to buyers who melt them quickly to remove any proof that they had purchased the iron from thieves.

“There is a rise in thefts in the industrial area. This is affecting small-scale industries. We are paying taxes to the government and in return we want security. If the police are unable to provide us security, why should we pay taxes?” questioned Jawahar Marwaha, a businessman.