SURAT | Feb 09, 2017: Two boats and four trucks were seized by district geologist and his team on Wednesday from Gala Patiya, some 20 km from Surat. In all, six boats were busy in mining sand from Tapi river bed when the officials raided the place. However, the people who were involved in illegal mining managed to escape.

According to district geologist D K Patel, he and his team went to Nani Machiwad, opposite Tapi river in Gala village and found people in six boats involved in illegal sand mining. While people managed to escape with four boats, two boats and four trucks with illegally mined sand were seized, Patel added.

"The sand theft is being carried out by some locals. We plan to lodge FIR against four locals. I would also recommend district collector to book these elements under PASA as they have become a threat to the administration and other people," said Patel.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)