Malappuram: The special investigation team probing the ammunition recovery from under the Kuttippuram Bridge on NH 66, has begun a detailed examination of the records of various Army units in Pune.
According to the investigation team led by district Crime Records Bureau DySP Jaison K. Abraham, the police got vital clues on the distribution channel of the anti-personnel claymore mines, bullets and cartridges, pulse generators and tube launchers found abandoned on the riverbed and in waters during the past week.
The five-member team visited Indian Army’s ordnance factories in Pune and Dehu Road and central ammunition depot at Pulgaon to examine documents which may unravel the mystery.
“We are examining details of the recovered arms, its manufacturing, chain of distribution and history of its custody by various units. The preliminary finding is that the batch numbers of the mines matched the ones distributed to Chandigarh army unit in Punjab. However, we can only confirm this after verifying documents at various Army units in detail, and it will take time,” Mr Abraham said.
Earlier, a team of experts from National Security Guard (NSG) from Chennai had confirmed that the claymore mines were live and issued by the Indian Army. Following the confirmation, the investigation team put off defusing of mines kept at Armed Reserve Police camp in Malappuram.
The M18A1 mines were first recovered on January 4. And a week after, on Thursday, the police retrieved a cache of army ammunition including around 500 bullets and pulse generator connectors near the same spot.
The investigation team had conducted a detailed search of the river on Friday. Northern region DGP Rajesh Divan and Intelligence DIG G. Sparjan Kumar were also part of the search operations.
