Five detained for ‘black marketing’ LPG cylinders

Ponda: The departments of civil supplies and legal metrology, in a joint raid, confiscated 164 LPG cylinders at Britto Vaddo, Parra, on Monday.Civil supplies minister Ravi Naik told reporters on Tuesday that five Rajasthan natives, Radhesham, Vikas Swarupanam, Rameshkumar, Pradeep Kumar and Ram Swaroop, were detained in connection with alleged black marketing of LPG cylinders.“They would obtain cylinders from the refilling unit, remove around 30% gas from each cylinder and put it in another, reseal, and sell. In doing this, they were able to fill one empty cylinder by partially removing gas from the others,” Naik said.Of the 164 cylinders, 76 were sealed and 88 were empty. These included 18 sealed domestic cylinders, two unsealed domestic ones, 12 empty domestic ones, 24 sealed commercial ones, 32 unsealed commercial ones, 10 empty commercial ones, and 66 5kg cylinders. Also, 32 counterfeit commercial and two counterfeit domestic cylinders were seized.