Newskarnataka – Karkala
Karkala: The Hebri police found ammonium nitrate valued at Rs 7 lac hidden in a government land near a crusher located at Chara village near Hebri on Monday March 31.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Annamalai, inspector, Naikar, Hebri station house officer, Seetaram T and other personnel, raided the spot and recovered 238 gunny bags full of ammonium nitrate. Each of these bags weighed 50 kg. These bags were found buried in government land near Durgi Crusher in Chara village.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been requested earlier by the Karkala police to investigate the case wherein they have confiscated explosive materials.It may be recalled here that explosives had also been recovered from different places within the taluk during the last few of days. On Tuesday March 25, police raided a place at Tellaru Indrabailu in Durga village of Karkala taluk, and had seized huge quantity of Ammonium Nitrate. The police found raw materials worth Rs one crore, 60-70 tons of ammonium nitrate, 43,000 electric detonators, and safety fuse of about 19,000 metre in length. The total value of the seized materials was over Rs 1.5 crore.
On Thursday March 27, the police confiscated explosive materials worth Rs 4.8 lac, along with a pickup truck from Ashok Nagar in Kalya village near Belman. Police found explosives such as 500 Gelitin stick, 700 electronics detonators, sun 90 excluse-500, 3 boxes of safety fuse, and 350 bags of ammonium nitrate.
Biju Thomas, a native of Kerala, who has been identified as the main accused in the case, has been absconding. The police are yet to collect details as to how Biju would sell these explosives, who were his buyers, and who support him in these activities. Police have now begun investigation under the guidance of NIA as to whether this activity has also been extended to other taluks, districts, and states.
The police have information that Biju Thomas has a hand in hoarding of these explosives too. They suspect that the explosives were hidden inside earth either to ensure that they do not get noticed during routine inspection, or they would have been shifted from some privately owned godowns after the suspect became apprehensive about the likelihood of being caught, in the light of recovery of explosives from various places in the taluk during the past some days.
There are speculations that leaders of various political parties own quarries here and the likelihood of them facing punitive action for these offences, make chances of proper investigation bleaker.
