Mangalore : The CCB police have unearthed a fuel theft racket in Mangalore and have arrested six persons and seized five oil tankers. The arrested include the owner of the tankers and the drivers.

It is learnt the  racketeers   had created an in-built compartment in the tanker to pilfer oil, both petrol and diesel. Police said some quantity of oil loaded into the tanker gets stored in this compartment and when unloaded the fuel in the compartment remains intact and later pilfered by the accused.

Police said they used to pilfer at least 700 litres of fuel in a day. Police have seized all the five tankers, a cash of Rs 3 lakh, a car and seven mobile phones.

The arrested are UB Ashok of Bantwal, the owner of Ullalthi Transport which runs the tankers,   drivers Sukumar (28) of Madikeri, Chidanand (21)  and Kushalappa (25), both from  Puttur, Uday Kumar (35) of Shimoga and  CK Smikil (29) of Belthangady.

It is learnt the Ashok owned a total of seven tankers. The total value of the goods seized has been estimated at Rs 69,29,285.

The CCB team which busted the racket, was led by CCB inspector Venkatesh Prasanna.