As the Capital remains gripped with panic over LPG shortage amid ongoing conflict in West Asia, the Delhi Police have initiated a crackdown against hoarding, black marketing, and illegal refilling of cylinders. Five people have been arrested after raids at five sites in the last few days, officers said on Monday.In the first such action, the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Delhi Police Crime Branch on Sunday conducted a raid at Guruji Indane Gas Service, an agency in Outer Delhi’s Mundka area, and recovered 610 commercial and domestic gas cylinders allegedly kept illegally on the premises. Officers said these cylinders belonged to multiple companies, including Indane, Bharat Gas and HP Gas.Of the 610 cylinders recovered, 197 were filled, while 392 were empty commercial cylinders. Police also found 21 small domestic cylinders and 26 industrial cylinders with a capacity of 47 kg belonging to Indane.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjeev Yadav said that the investigation revealed that the agency was authorised to distribute only commercial Indane cylinders. However, cylinders of other gas companies were also allegedly hoarded at the site.As per the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Yadav added, the distributor’s Indane stock was supposed to be “nil” as of March 15, yet 133 filled commercial Indane cylinders were found during the raid. The owner and the manager of the agency are absconding.In East Delhi’s Shakarpur, a 46-year-old man was apprehended for allegedly running an illegal LPG refilling operation and black marketing domestic gas cylinders. According to a senior police officer, information was received on Sunday about illegal LPG refilling at a shop in Shakarpur. The tip-off was recorded through a Daily Diary entry at Shakarpur police station, following which a team led by the Station House Officer conducted a raid.During the operation, a man identified as Yogesh Gupta, a resident of Shakarpur, was found at the premises. During questioning, Gupta allegedly admitted that he had been refilling LPG gas from large domestic cylinders into smaller cylinders at his shop for the past few days without any licence or authorisation.Story continues below this adPolice recovered two 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinders, three 5 kg cylinders, a gas transfer pipe, an LPG refilling machine and a weighing machine from the spot.A case has been registered under the Essential Commodities Act and relevant sections of the BNS, officers said.In Northwest Delhi, at Rohini’s Vijay Vihar area, a 38-year-old shopkeeper was found selling gas at Rs 110 per litre. An officer said the accused, identified as Pushpendra, was allegedly illegally transferring gas from large cylinders to small cylinders and selling it from a dilapidated house located on Rithala Phirni Road.Police recovered 15 filled cylinders of Hindustan Petroleum and two empty cylinders of Bharat Petroleum, along with a motorcycle used to transport the cylinders, four gas-weighing machines, and refilling tools from his possession.Story continues below this adDeputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Shashank Jaiswal said on March 12, the local police were patrolling the area. In a lane on Phirni Road, the police noticed the smell of gas. When they checked a dilapidated house there, they saw a man illegally transferring gas from a large cylinder to smaller cylinders. The police immediately caught him.In the fourth such crackdown in East Delhi at Shahdara’s Gandhi Nagar area, a 55-year-old man was caught for allegedly illegally transferring LPG gas from a domestic cylinder into smaller cylinders at a shop in Gali number 5, Gurudwara Gali on March 13.The accused, identified as Ram Vilas Sharma, allegedly continued the activity despite being questioned and failed to produce any licence or permission. Another officer said the police seized two large cylinders (one filled, one empty), six medium cylinders, one small cylinder, two filling machines and a weighing machine from the shop.In the fifth incident, the police nabbed two shopkeepers identified as Lokesh Kumar Yadav and Ajeet Kumar, both aged 37, from North Delhi’s Bawana area for allegedly illegally refilling and selling LPG cylinders at inflated prices on Saturday. Both were booked under Section 287 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 3, 7, and 6A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Police seized large cylinders, small cylinders, and pipes used in the operation, warning against hazardous and illegal LPG trade.