GUJRAT: A joint team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) unearthed a gas theft of around Rs20 million by the owners of a local pottery manufacturing unit at Chah Tarehng.

The team including engineers of the SNGPL raided the pottery factory of Muhammad Ijaz and found tampering of the gas meter and other suspicious instruments.

According to the raiding team, the volume of gas theft has been estimated to be around Rs20 million. The gas meter had been seized and would be sent to the government laboratory for further examination after which a detection bill could be sent to the owners, it said.

The Gujrat FIA police station registered a case against the owners under section 462E of Pakistan Penal Code and started investigation.

An FIA official said the involvement of the SNGPL officials in the gas theft by the factory could not be ruled out.

The local pottery association has long been demanding an action against gas pilferage and theft by some manufacturers which cause a loss to the fellow businessmen as well as the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2019