54 tonne LAM coke seized in Odisha, 10 arrested  

By Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch arrested 10 individuals from Choudwar in Cuttack district on prices of theft and seized 54-tonne low ash metallurgical (LAM) coke price Rs 13.5 lakh, 9 vehicles and one JCB machine from the spot. 

Acting on a tip-off, the company sleuths performed a raid at Baba Dhabaleswar Koila Dipu depot on Saturday close to NH-55 when the stolen LAM coke was being unloaded from eight vehicles. The coke was then being loaded from the depot in one other truck which was additionally seized.

“Initial investigation suggests the LAM coke procured from Jajpur was being transported to a factory in Raipur. Eight drivers who were involved in the theft and two others have been apprehended,” STF DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj instructed TNIE. A case has been registered underneath Sections 379, 411 and 120B of IPC. Further investigation is continuous, he added. 

Sources stated theft of coke and different minerals at numerous unlawful depots near the highways isn’t unusual. LAM coke is usually utilized in iron and metal business processes resembling blast furnaces for lowering iron ore to iron.