Karnataka: 1,400kg low-grade explosive materials seized in Mangaluru; 1 held

MANGALURU: The Mangaluru Police seized nearly 1,400kg of low-grade explosive substances worth Rs 1.1 lakh that were illegally stored in a room of a building at Azizuddin Road in Bunder in Mangaluru North police limits of Karnataka.
The accused, Anand Gatty, 50, was arrested and produced before a court that remanded him in police custody.
Police have recovered white sulphur powder (400kg), potassium nitrate (350kg), barium nitrate (50kg), potassium chlorite (395kg), aluminium powder of different grades (260kg), air pistol pellets of .22 bore (161 boxes of 100 each), lead balls (30kg) and charcoal (240kg).
A weighing scale and weighing stones have also been seized.
City police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said easy access to the illegal substances could increase the threat of them being misused.
Mangaluru is a sensitive area with close proximity to Naxal-prone areas.
The city police have been keeping a close watch, especially after people were killed at a stone quarry site in Chikkaballapur and a similar blast at a quarry site Shivamogga early this year.
It is learnt that the raid was conducted based on a tip-off received by DCP (law and order) Hariram Shankar.
A dog was reportedly shot dead with a suspected air gun at close range in Shivabhag last month.
Following this, police were trying to find the source of the air gun pellet used for the crime.
The recovered explosive substances are suspected to be used in the cracker industry, quarries, fishing and wells.
Sources said the materials were being stored without permission at a commercial-cum-residential building where several families live and pets moved around. The source of these substances is being investigated.