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Cuttack: In an ongoing statewide crackdown on illegal LPG cylinder hoarding and black marketing, a joint team of police, district administration, and civil supplies officials seized around 500 LPG gas cylinders in Odisha’s Cuttack district on Saturday.

The early morning raid busted an illegal godown at Brahmanjharilo in Baranga block under Cuttack Sadar police limits. Cuttack Rural police acted after receiving specific intelligence about unauthorised storage and distribution of LPG cylinders from a house along Phulnakhara–Niali State Highway 60.

Police detained two youths, seized three vehicles, and sealed the premises.

Earlier speaking to the media, ACP Zone 4 Amitabh Mahapatra said that 100 cylinders have been seized so far and the number is likely to rise as counting of the illegal stockpile is still underway. Their alleged modus operandi involved collecting filled domestic LPG cylinders from households, extracting the gas, and refilling it into empty commercial cylinders. These were then sold at higher prices to commercial establishments, exploiting perceived shortages for profit, he told a local news channel.

The ACP also pointed to an additional violation as the gas godown operated inside a four-storied building in a residential area, posing serious safety risks to locals. While, the civil supplies department will send the cylinders to an authorised gas agency, criminal cases are expected to be registered against the accused.

Just days earlier, on April 23, 552 LPG cylinders were seized in Gangeswar area under the same police limits, the largest single haul in recent operations.