26 held for illegal diamond mining

RAIPUR - Twenty-six people, including six women, were arrested in a police raid at a diamond deposit site in Chhattisgarh, police said Saturday.

A police team raided the 18-hectare diamond deposit site late Friday and arrested 20 men and six women for illegally mining diamond in Pailikhand village, around 150 km from here, in Raipur district.

“There is a diamond loot at Pailikhand since policemen deployed at the site were recalled last year. We occasionally cover the area through patrolling but it doesn’t help much. But on Friday evening 26 people were caught red-handed,” said Ramesh Markam, a police officer.

“We seized two motor cycles and 20 cycles from the accused,” Markam added.

The diamond-rich site is under strong Maoist influence and has been lying unprotected since July 2009. A police post was scrapped from the site as there was no housing arrangement for the policemen deployed in the area.