Beneath the quiet streets of Ranial, in Rawalpindi, a long-buried artery of the nation's energy supply was quietly being bled. Patrols from Pakistan Oilfields Limited, following a tip, traced the leak to a rented house where a tunnel of 181 feet had been dug from an illegal clamp on the main high-pressure line, and three men were taken into custody. It is a small, stubborn chapter in a longer story of resources being drawn away from the public trust by those who find the hidden places of infrastructure easy to exploit. The case now rests with the police, who must still find the members of the
Police Arrest Three in Rawalpindi Crude Oil Theft Ring Worth Rs23.2 Million
Three men were arrested and face charges including oil theft, theft, and negligent conduct with combustible and explosive substances; no casualties are reported.
A 181-foot tunnel ran from the pipeline into a rented house
Mark
Why does this case stand out? Pipeline theft isn't new.
Mimi
The method. They clamped onto a high-pressure line, dug a 181-foot tunnel through a vacant plot, and ended up inside a rented house with a hidden tank.
Mark
And it was found by a patrol, not by a pressure alarm or an audit?
Luke
The report says patrols received information about illegal activity. It doesn't say who the tipster was or how long the tap had been running.
Mimi
The loss report estimates 1,100 barrels, worth over Rs23.2 million.
Luke
That's POL's own estimate. It's the complainant's figure, and the source doesn't say how it was calculated.
Mark
Seven other people are named besides the three arrested?
Mimi
Four more, actually: the caretaker Shah Muhammad, plus Sajid, Akhtar, Hifz-ur-Rehman and Zahid. Police say remaining ring members have absconded.
Luke
The FIR naming someone isn't a finding of guilt. Only three were caught at the scene.
Mark
Why are the charges about explosive and combustible matter?
Mimi
A tapped high-pressure line with crude stored in a house is a fire hazard. No casualties were reported.
Luke
Whether this ring is tied to earlier thefts on the Attock-Morgah line is not established. The source only says such cases were reported over two years.
The Pulse
- A high-pressure crude pipeline was being siphoned through a tunnel dug beneath a neighbouring plot, and the theft was discovered only after a tip reached patrol teams.
- Police raided the house on the 15 helpline's signal, catching three men in the act and seizing 1,431 liters of crude along with two vehicles.
- POL estimates roughly 1,100 barrels worth over Rs23.2 million were lost, and a caretaker plus five named co-accused now face an FIR.
- Investigators are hunting absconding members of the ring, while the case joins a two-year pattern of oil theft along the Attock-to-Morgah line.
Beneath the quiet streets of Ranial, in Rawalpindi, a long-buried artery of the nation's energy supply was quietly being bled. Patrols from Pakistan Oilfields Limited, following a tip, traced the leak to a rented house where a tunnel of 181 feet had been dug from an illegal clamp on the main high-pressure line, and three men were taken into custody. It is a small, stubborn chapter in a longer story of resources being drawn away from the public trust by those who find the hidden places of infrastructure easy to exploit. The case now rests with the police, who must still find the members of the network who slipped away.
Patrols from Pakistan Oilfields Limited, working Beat No. 2 in Ranial, received a tip about crude oil being stolen from a rented house. They alerted police through the 15 helpline, and together the two forces raided the property and caught three men inside.
The Dhamial Police registered an FIR on the written application of POL's senior executive administrator, Shahid Ahmed. The arrested men are Muhammad Mumtaz, Shaukat and Muhammad Akram. What lay beneath the house was an engineered operation: an illegal 6-inch clamp fixed to POL's main high-pressure line, and a 181-foot tunnel running under a vacant plot into the building, where a hidden underground tank collected the oil for loading into a carry van.
Police seized 1,431 liters of crude, 181 feet of piping, clamps, drills and mobile phones, along with a Suzuki Carry and a rickshaw. POL's loss report counts about 1,100 barrels, worth more than Rs23.2 million.
The FIR also names the house caretaker, Shah Muhammad, and five others as co-accused. Charges include oil theft, theft, and negligent handling of combustible and explosive substances. No one was hurt. Police are now searching for the absconding members, and the hunt will be followed against a backdrop of similar thefts on the Attock-to-Morgah pipeline over the past two years.
Security patrols from Pakistan Oilfields Limited, working Beat No. 2 in the Ranial area of Rawalpindi, received a tip about illegal activity and crude oil theft at a rented residential property. The officials alerted police through the 15 helpline and raided the house together. Inside, they found three men and caught them red-handed.
Dhamial Police have since registered a First Information Report on the written application of Shahid Ahmed, POL's senior executive administrator. The three arrested men are Muhammad Mumtaz, Shaukat, and Muhammad Akram.
What the investigators found at the scene was an engineered operation. The suspects had fitted an illegal 6-inch clamp, not a factory fitting, onto POL's main underground high-pressure transmission line. From that clamp they had dug a 181-foot tunnel that ran under an adjacent vacant plot and ended inside the residential building.
High-pressure pipes carried the stolen oil through the tunnel into a hidden underground storage tank built inside the house. From there it was loaded into a commercial carry van for illegal sale. On site, police seized 1,431 liters of crude oil and two vehicles used to move it: a Suzuki Carry (BQM 918) and a rickshaw (RIU 17 238).
The equipment recovered gives a sense of the scale. Police confiscated 181 feet of high-pressure piping, multiple pressure clamps, joint sockets, drill machines, and mobile phones.
POL's loss report puts the damage at an estimated 1,100 barrels of crude oil, valued at more than Rs23.2 million, taken through the tampering scheme.
The FIR goes beyond the three men in custody. It also names the house caretaker, Shah Muhammad, along with Sajid, Akhtar, Hifz-ur-Rehman, and Zahid as co-accused. The charges cover damaging public property, negligent conduct with respect to combustible matter, negligent conduct with respect to explosive substances, oil theft, and theft. No casualties are reported.
Police have opened a further investigation to find and arrest the remaining members of the ring, who have absconded. The case is not the first of its kind. Over the past two years, multiple cases of oil theft have been reported from the underground POL pipeline that runs from Attock to Morgah in Rawalpindi, so the hunt for the absconding suspects will be watched alongside that wider pattern.
Notable Quotes
The case was registered on a written application stating that POL patrols got a tip about crude oil theft at a rented house.— Shahid Ahmed, senior executive administrator, POL (complaint)
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