Millers express concern on theft of rice containers

Irked by the alleged stealing of containers and trucks, shipping rice from the mills, the Sindh Rice Millers Association has warned of suspending rice production if the theft incidents are not stopped.

At a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club on Thursday, the association’s Farooq Ahmed and Dr Chetan Samrani said that three trucks filled with rice went missing during the last month.

According to them, they registered FIRs in the police stations in Karachi and Jamshoro districts. Still, only one of the stolen consignments has been recovered from Tando Muhammad Khan district. They alleged that police and a gang of criminals and truck mafia are involved in the theft. The stolen consignments were worth tens of millions of rupees.

“The trailers transporting rice are being stolen in an organised way,” said Ahmed, denying that the recent theft incidents appeared random. He said that the trailers leave mills but do not reach their destinations and the companies operating those vehicles react indifferently to such incidents. “The owners and drivers of trawler trucks living in Karachi are responsible for these incidents,” he alleged. He informed that when the police take action against those truckers, they and their families, including children and women, take to the streets in protest.

The office bearers apprised that the mills employ thousands of workers, and if they closed the mills, the bread and butter of the labourers would be affected. The consignments still missing belong to Qalandari rice mill, Hyderabad, and Shah Bhitai rice mill, Sujawal.