LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday arrested officials of the petroleum ministry over their alleged involvement in petrol crisis, sources said. The cases were registered at the FIA Lahore in the light of inquiries conducted to figure out the responsible behind the recent petrol crisis.

Sources privy to the development said that cases were registered against two oil marketing companies and OGRA officials. OGRA's member gas, Aamir Naseem, member oil, OGRA, Abdullah Malik, DG Oil, Shafiullah and assistant director Iman Abro have been arrested by the FIA officials. The arrested are accused of awarding petroleum marketing licenses illegally, allowing illegal petrol import quota.

The companies after getting the marketing licenses established several illegal petrol pumps, which dented the loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. Further inquiry into the matter is underway, the sources said.

It may be noted that the federal government had made public the inquiry commission's report on the petrol crisis-2020. According to the details, the inquiry commission held oil marketing companies, Petroleum Division and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) responsible for the acute fuel crisis in the country last year.