MALAPPURAM: The police seized a huge cache of explosives from a truck laden with chicken manure at Mongam near Kondotty in the wee hours of Wednesday. Later, the police also raided a godown at Mongam and seized a large stockpile of explosive substances.
The police, who had received a tip-off about the truck, detained it during an inspection on the Kozhikode-Palakkad national highway. The driver of the Karnataka-registered truck and his assistant were taken into custody. They were identified as Kasargod native George, 40, and driver Hakeem, 32, of Chikmagalore in Karnataka. Both are workers of the truck.
The explosives were hidden in sacks of poultry manure. The accused revealed that the substances were being taken to a godown at Mongam. Over 10 tonnes of gelatin sticks, around 10,000 detonators and 10 packs of safety fuse were seized from the godown during the raid. According to preliminary probe, the explosives were meant to be supplied to the quarries in the district.
Malappuram DySP Jaleel Thottathil said that a detailed probe would be initiated into the illegal transport of the explosives. Both the accused will be questioned in detail, he said.
"The godown at Mongam is owned by a local and our preliminary probe suggests that the explosives were brought for quarries," Kondotty inspector Muhammed Haneefa said.
Huge quantities of similar explosives had been seized from various parts of the district earlier. The Perinthalmanna police had seized 600 kg of ammonium nitrate and 3000 gelatin sticks from a truck two years ago. Also, 17 metric tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been seized from Vazhikkadav six years ago.
