Police seized illegally stored explosive materials from the outskirts of the city at Narayanpur village under Gopalpur police station limits. The materials included packets of urea, 21 detonators, wire used for blasting from a distance etc.
One person, Rafiq Muhammad (44), was arrested in this connection. He was running a stone quarry and involved in blasting of rocks near Narayanpur village without necessary permission.
According to the police, he did not have proper explosive licence to store such materials and use them for blasting. Investigation is on to ascertain the origin of the explosives seized from his store house and the possibility of them reaching anti-socials.
Berhampur Superintendent of Police Aniruddha Singh said the stone quarry owner had taken lease from revenue department to extract rocks through methods other than blasting. But he had resorted to illegal storage and use of explosive materials for blasting. “We will recommend the Berhampur tehsildar to cancel the lease and would make investigation on the functioning of other stone quarries in the area.”
It is the third such seizure of clandestinely stored explosive materials in Ganjam district and the second one in Berhampur police district since March this year. According to police sources, stone quarries is a major reason behind illicit inflow and storage of explosive materials.
It may be noted that Maoist infested areas of south Odisha are close to Ganjam district and Berhampur happens to be a major transit point for Maoists. Chances of these illegally procured explosive materials reaching the hands of miscreants including Naxalites cannot be ruled out.
On April 26 night, a large quantity of explosive materials had been seized from a house at Bhaliagada on the outskirts of Berhampur under Golanthara police station limits.
In a similar development, large quantity of explosive materials clandestinely stored in a house at Jilundi village under Bhanjanagar police station in Ganjam district had been seized by police on March 23.
The seized goods included 356 kilograms of explosive chemicals, 3600 electronic detonators, around 800 non-electronic detonators, ten bundles of fuse wire used to make explosions, six bundles of electric wire used to detonate explosives from a distance as well as several other equipments used in blasting like starters.
