In Bengal's Birbhum, police recovers 50,000 detonators and 11,000 gelatine sticks; 1 held

The police seized a huge cache of explosives in West Bengal’s Birbhum district police on Tuesday.

N Sudheer Kumar, district superintendent of police, Birbhum said that acting on specific information, they conducted a raid at a household late on Monday night at Bahadurpur area of Nalhati in Birbhum district. 

“Upon searching the house and vehicles, we have seized 50,000 detonators and 11,000 gelatine sticks and arrested one, Angur Seikh aged 30-plus. He will be produced at the court tomorrow,” he told DNA.

District police sources said that the explosives which included huge quantity of ammonium nitrate were suspected to have been from explosive stocks of stone quarries of the area. 

Two vehicles, which police suspect were being used to ferry these explosives, have also been seized. 

Police were also looking into the possibilities of supplying of these explosives to banned terror outfits. Police would pray for a full-term custody of Seikh and are hopeful that more information would be collected upon interrogating him.

Earlier too explosives like these which are used for blasts at stone quarries had been recovered from Maoists and other outfits. Frequent haul of explosives from the area has become a matter of concern for the district administration. 

Police suspect that the Bangladesh police had come down heavily on arms and explosive dealers in Bangladesh, banned terror outfits and as a result they were outsourcing these merchandise to Bengal.