Gas canisters hiddenin India graveyard

HYDERABAD:

Indian police this week seized 414 cooking?gas canisters hidden in a graveyard in Hyderabad city and arrested those involved in trying to sell them on the black market amid shortages due to the ?US-Israeli war on Iran, a government official said on Thursday.

Authorities have stepped up raids to curb hoarding of liquefied petroleum gas canisters after the US-Israeli war against Iran disrupted shipping, causing supply shortages.

India, the world's number two Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) importer, meets about 60 per cent of its demand through overseas purchases, mostly from the Middle East.

"Just yesterday, around 2,600 raids were carried out and about 700 cylinders were seized," Sujata Sharma, a senior official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, told a regular briefing on the Middle East crisis.