RAMESWARAM: The fishermen community in coastal hamlets in and around Anthoniyarpuram near Thangachimadam here on Friday finally heaved a huge sigh of relief, as the huge cache of deadly ammunition uncovered behind a fisherman’s house there on June 25, was finally removed for safe-keeping at a Government depot.
The local people’s anxiety and apprehensions over the large amount of explosives which, despite safety concerns, was kept buried in sand in Anthoniyarpuram, only intensified every passing day. Fears even forced the owner of the house, A Edison and his family to vacate their home few days back, as no action from the authorities to remove the explosives came forth.
Finally after 25 days today, there was decisive action at last to remove the cache of explosives from the spot at Anthoniyarpuram following an order from the Thiruvaadanai Judicial Magistrate, Mr. P. Balamurugan, sources told DC. The huge staggeringly explosives dump, including deadly TNT explosives, land mines, packets of explosive chemicals, hand grenades, rocket launchers, automatic rifle bullets, 5,500 rounds of small arms ammunition, a variety of cartridges including SLR cartridges, sniper class bullets, and fuse wires believed to have been left behind 30 years ago by the Sri Lankan Tamil militant group, LTTE, was suddenly uncovered when a pit was being dug for a septic tank behind Edison’s home.
Though Ramanathapuram police, bomb detection and disposal squads from Ramnad and Madurai visited the site immediately and put the place under police surveillance, followed by visits of forensic experts and deputy director (Controller of Explosives), Mr. Prasad Yadav and his colleague Mr. Sheikh Hussain from Chennai, there was no movement towards either defusing or removing the explosives to some other place for their destruction. This was notwithstanding the fact that most of the explosives, kept in trunk boxes, were corroded over time.
Happily, that long unnerving period for the locals ended today as the explosives neatly arranged in cardboard boxes were removed from Edison’s premises in Anthoniyarpuram. The consignment was later taken by specially arranged bullet-proof vans, summoned from Kayathar in Thoothukudi district, for safe storage at the Government explosives depot at Melur in Sivaganga district, sources said.
The operation explosives-removal was overseen today by Ramanad district judge, Ms Malarvizhi, Thiruvaadanai judicial magistrate, Mr. P. Balamurugan, explosives experts from Chennai including Mr. Sheikh Hussain, and Rameswaram DSP, Mr. Mahesh among others. “The removal of the explosives has at last come as a huge psychological relief to fisher-folks in the coastal hamlets,” said Mr. Edison.
