PATNA: Amid skyrocketing prices of onions across India, and major shortages of the bulb, the driver of a truck loaded with tonnes of onions was taken hostage by robbers who eventually decamped with 102 sacks.
The incident took place in the Kaimur district of India’s Bihar state.
Onion prices in the state have gone up to Rs100 per kg (Dh5.1) in the last one month.
A police officer said on Saturday that the truck was heading towards Jehanabad, in Bihar, from Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad.
Deshraj, the truck driver, told police he was taken hostage by at least six armed persons around 10 pm on Thursday night.
Deshraj is said to be a resident of Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh. Based on his statement, an FIR has been registered and the police are investigating the matter.
He said the criminals left him, at around 2 am on Friday, 5km away from where he was taken hostage. Later, he found that some onion sacks were missing from his truck.
Earlier, in the first week of December, a similar incident of robbery took place in the Kudra police station area in Bihar’s Kaimur district.
The robbers had fled with 64 sacks (1,920 kg) of garlic from a vehicle. An FIR, in this case, has been lodged but the police are yet to make a breakthrough.
(Agencies)
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