The mystery was unravelled when two men were arrested for stealing the material being exported to Egypt by Jindal Steels and filling the container with salt, police said today.
Balwinder Singh (45) and Manoj (28) were arrested for stealing and misappropriating 19.70 tonne of steel blade strips.
Police have recovered 38 drums, each containing 21 strips and 9 loose strips of steel blades and weighing around 18 tonne.
The arrests came after investigations following a complaint filed by Gateway Rail Greight Ltd, Gurgaon on December 22 last year that their driver misappropriated the goods.
They told police that they are in contract with Jindal Steels to carry their goods through their transport and on November 4, their truck was being driven by his driver Mangal Singh. The container was supposed to reach ICD Garhi for export.
"But all approximately 19.79 tonne of goods were misappropriated by the driver with the help of Balvinder Singh. They filled the container with the plastic bags, containing salt, to neutralise the weight of the container. The container, filled with salt, was delivered at the container depot Ghari Harsaru (Gurgaon).
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The same container was exported to Egypt. When the container reached Egypt, it was found containing salt. The matter was reported to Jindal, police said.
The duo was arrested early this morning from Mehrauli.
During interrogation, police claimed, Balwinder told police that he stole these steel blade strips from the truck with the help of its driver Mangal and helper Rurdu Singh from Hissar.
"He had sold the entire stolen goods to Manoj. He had received a part amount of Rs 2.5 lakh. Rest amount of Rs 2.5 lakh was to be paid after the sale of steel strips. Manoj told us that he had stored in a godown at Wazirabad village.
"He was aware that these goods blades have been misappropriated by the truck driver and it belongs to Jindal Steels," police claimed.
Mangal and Rudru loaded the truck with container with steel blade strips from Jindal Steel, Hissar had departed for ICD, Garhi. Mangal drove the truck to Bahadur Garh, Haryana and met his relative accused Balwinder.
Balwinder took the truck with driver to Ghewara More and delivered the truck to Manoj. Manoj unloaded the container containing 38 drums (each containing strips of steel blades) in the godown.