12 Aero-Engine dics seized; van owner detained

Sunabeda: Police Sunday seized 12 aero-engine turbine discs from a pickup van and detained its owner at Sunabeda in Koraput district, officials said.

According to police, Vinod Kumar Bhatt, deputy manager (SEC) at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), lodged a written complaint with Sunabe da police and SDPO after being tipped off that a pickup van was carrying valuable aero-engine turbine discs belonging to HAL’s Sunabeda factory.

Following the complaint, Sunabeda SDPO Sumitra Je na alerted Semiliguda police, who intercepted the van on the highway as it was heading towards Visakhapatnam. Police recovered the 12 turbine discs and detained the vehicle and its owner before handing them over to the Sunabeda police.

The driver of the van managed to escape. Preliminary investigations revealed that the seized vehicle was being used to deliver daily English and Telugu newspapers to Sunabeda and was labelled ‘Press’ on its windshield.

Police also found that the vehicle had not entered the HAL factory premises and was loaded near the Ganga Maa Temple at Semiliguda.

Officials raised questions as to how turbine engine parts could make it outside the highly secured HAL factory and township premises.

Employees have called for a high-level probe into the matter. Sunabeda police have registered a case (113/25) and taken into custody a scrap dealer from Vizianagaram for questioning, based on suspicion that he was buying the engine parts, station inspector Sushma Kanhar said.

Earlier this month, the transport department fi ned two trucks for attempting to transport aero engines without proper documents.

PNN

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