Explosives found under Kuttippuram bridge in Malapuram in Kerala

Malappuarm: The Malappuram police has unearthed five claymore anti-personnel mines from under the Kuttippuram bridge, near Malappuram in Kerala, on Thursday night, sending the police into a tizzy on the motive behind hiding the cache under the bridge.

IG (Thrissur range) MR Ajith Kumar, who visited the spot, told DC that the mines were spotted by a boy on Thursday afternoon under the Kuttippuram bridge on NH 66 in Malappuram, some 130 km from Kochi.

The boy had come to the usual hangout on the riverbank when he noticed the metallic objects, popping out of the water. "We have asked the National Security Guard hub in Chennai to inspect the mines and defuse them and alerted the Army to verify the batch numbers and other markings to trace the source. We are sure of cracking the source and identifying those involved in spiriting out the arms possibly from armed forces’ stores," he said.

Kumar said Claymore mines are used by the Infantry for ambushes and against armoured vehicles. He said he would not hazard a guess on the possible target and would await further confirmation before ruling out anything.