GUJRAT: Around 700,000 litres of hoarded petroleum products were recovered from a compound adjacent to a filling stationat Chak Peerana near Kharian on Sunday.

The recovery was made in a joint raid conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (Pera) and the district administration.

As per a senior FIA official, the raid was conducted on Al Ghani Petroleum upon receipt of credible information regarding the hoarding of petroleum products, by a joint team comprising FIA Gujrat Circle, Ogra Executive Director (Enforcement) Mr Iqbal, Pera Force and the district administration officials.

He said the team found a large quantity of petrol and diesel stored in unauthorised tankers and illegal underground containers on an unlicenced premises, adjacent to the filling station.

During inspection, the management failed to produce any valid permit for the storage of petroleum products beyond the permissible limits, he added. During the raid, the official team recovered approximately 118,000 litres of petrol and 570,000 litres of diesel, whereas four containers were also impounded as case property.

The official says that illegal over-storage/hoarding and unsafe handling of petroleum products have been clearly established and the act constituted a violation of relevant laws, adding that further legal action was being taken against the suspects.

Official sources say that such raids are being conducted as per the directions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, given an excessive consumption or sale of petroleum products in the country during this March, as compared to the figures from the same month last year.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2026