ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: Officials of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) here on Friday unearthed a gas theft which they said had been going on for the last three years.

Police said the theft was uncovered during a raid at the slum of France Colony near F-7/4.

The officials arrived there to detect leakage of gas and when they dug up the earth they found two illegal connections to the katchi abadi. The connections were kept underground to conceal the theft and supply gas to as many as 219 huts.

Residents of the slum gathered on the spot and some of them put up resistance to the raiding team. “The officials were pushed, manhandled and threatened by the locals,” police said, adding it was also disclosed that the gas thieves charged Rs700 from a house for the gas supply and the practice continued for three years.

The police quoted the SNGPL officials as saying that the practice resulted in loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. The company has demanded Rs12 million as a compensation from the people behind the theft. On the complaint of the SNGPL deputy chief Javed Iqbal, the Kohsar police registered a case against Mushtaq Masih, Ishaq Masih, Shaukat Masih, Bashir Masih and Abid Masih.—Staff Reporter