GUWAHATI: Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police seized as many as 11 coal-laden trucks at Koinadhara in the Khanapara area here during a search operation in the wee hours of Sunday.
Police sources said the trucks were carrying coal without any documents and had to be seized for necessary verification.
Of the 11 trucks, three have been kept under the custody of Basistha Police Station while the rest have been brought to the CID campus here.
However, police did not revert when asked whether any arrests have been made in connection with the seizure.
The search was conducted in connection with CID PS Case No. 06/2018.
The seizure of the coal trucks close to the Assam-Meghalaya border comes at a time when rescue teams from multiple agencies, including Indian Navy and NDRF, are on the job to trace at least 15 miners who are trapped inside a flooded illegal rat-hole mine in East Jaintia Hills since December 13.
Despite a ban on coal mining in the Northeast region imposed by the National Green Tribunal, illegal exploration of the “black diamond,” as coal is referred to, has been continuing unabated in different parts of Assam and Meghalaya.