Hebri police seize ammonium nitrate worth Rs 70 lakhs hidden in govt land

Mangalore Today News Network

Karkala, April 1, 2014 : In another major operation, this time in Chara village near Hebri, police have seized  huge quantity of ammonium nitrate  which was found buried in a pit in a government land  near the Durgi  crusher in the village on March 31, Monday. The value of the seized ammonium nitrate is estimated at Rs 7 lakhs.

The raid which  followed a tip off and led by ASP Annamalai and  other  police personnel helped in seizing as many as 238  bags of ammonium nitrate, each weighing 50 kg. It has been reliably gathered that the prime accused Biju Thomas who was wanted in earlier cases of seizing explosives was behind the stocking of these explosives too.

Earlier the police in raids on different days had seized ammonium nitrate and other explosive materials from Durg, Nakre, Kuntady, Ashoknagar, Kalya, Tellar and other places. The value of the seized goods is estimated at several crores of rupees.

Police are still searching for Biju Thomas, a Keralite who had purchased vast tracts of land in Karkala, reportedly just to hide the explosives. They suspect that he had stocked the explosives in a government land at Tellar  just to avoid detection. It may be mentioned here that there are several stone quarries, many of them illegal in the taluk and that they use explosives unauthorisedly. It is not yet clear if the explosives are sold for any other purposes.