The police on Sunday seized a huge cache of explosives containing 376 gelatine sticks and 397 detonators from a house at Kayakkodi in the Thottilpalam police station limits.
T. Mahmood, the man who allegedly procured the stock, was arrested.
Though it was initially suspected to be a stock purchased for local quarries, the police found that the man had no association with any quarry projects in the village. His claim of purchasing it for breaking stones in wells too was unbelievable, they said.
No licence
The Thottilpalam Station House Officer said the man had no licence to purchase or store explosive materials.
“If he was part of any quarry business, he would have secured it in advance. We will carry out further inquiry into the purpose of purchasing such a huge quantity,” he said.
Searches held
Following his arrest, the local police carried out searches in several other areas in an attempt to recover the suspected stock of gun powder and other explosive substances. A few quarry operators were also quizzed during the search.
It was the second such seizure of illegally stocked explosive materials from Kayakkodi, one of the major hubs of rural quarry operators.
In the first incident, the police had recovered 58 detonators, six packets of nitrate mixture, fuse wires and a few gelatine sticks.
There was also a major seizure at Mukkom last year during a vehicle inspection by the local police.
‘About 1,000 kg of gelatin sticks had been recovered by the police in the inspection. A Tamil Nadu native was arrested in connection with the incident.