Four arrested for dumping debris in Vashi

Mumbai: Four persons were arrested while dumping debris in Vashi mangrove area on Thursday by the state mangrove cell. Two trucks were seized with around 20 tonnes of debris in the vehicles. The arrested persons are presently being tried in the court.

This is the second seizure this month after the mangrove cell conducted a raid in Malwani where fresh dumping of debris was prevented in the mangrove area of Malad and fifteen persons were arrested in the case. This time too, a team of four forest officers went undercover at the site after receiving a tip-off the previous night.

“We received the information from our sources on Wednesday night and reached at the site early on Thursday morning in plain clothes to avoid suspicion. When the dumping started, the two owners of the trucks and the drivers were arrested by the evening,” said Prakash Choudhari, range forest officer of Navi Mumbai.