Arrests 27 persons, seize vehicles

Shopian: Police on Tuesday cracked down on illegal mineral miners and arrested 27 persons and seized 26 vehicles meant for transporting and sand, boulders and gravel from Rambiara Nallah.
According to a police, the drive against mineral mafia was launched by three police stations including Keegam, Zainpora and Imamsahib in Shopian. “12 tippers, 13 tractors with lorries and a bulldozer were seized and 27 persons have been arrested for carrying illegal excavation of minerals which include sand, gravel and boulders,” it said.
A police spokesman said that FIRs were also lodged in different police stations against the people involved.
In its drive against sand mafia, Shopian Police on Monday night launched a massive drive in the Shopian and seized 12 tippers,13 tractors,one excavator and arrested 27 persons from Rambiara Nallah in Shopian,Keegam, Imam sahib and Zainapora areas and filed four FIRs in different Police Stations against them.
Since the government imposed lockdown in view of Covid outbreak, illegal extraction of minerals from different rivulets in Shopian, particularly Rambiara was on rise. The illegal miners, according to an official of geology and mining department, were not only looting minerals but also damaging the river beds by not using scientific methods of extraction.
An official said that in Heff, Sugan and Shirmal areas, the miners have dug huge trenches which even last year led to death of an elderly man.

Raashid Hassan