How the illegal explosives industry is thriving in India
New Delhi, Sept 14: When 163 trucks with 800 tonnes of explosives go missing, it is no laughing matter. This is an incident that occurred in the year 2010 and was probed jointly by the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ATS which discovered that there was a notorious gang which would waylay trucks and divert the explosives.
This case becomes important to discuss in the wake of the tragedy at Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh in which over 100 persons were killed in a blast.
It has been ascertained now that explosives that were stored in the area was the cause for the explosion. The person in question had a licence to store explosives, but the issue was that safety norms had not been followed.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a probe into the blast. The probe would go beyond just this incident and would look at cracking the whip on the supply of illegal explosives and its smuggling.
How
illegal
explosive
trade
thrives:
In
the
year
2010,
it
was
reported
that
163
trucks
which
were
plying
between
Rajasthan
and
Madhya
Pradesh
had
mysteriously
gone
missing
in
separate
incidents.
It
was
also
revealed
that
these
trucks
were
carrying
800
tonnes
of
explosives.
The probe had found that there was an organized gang operating between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh which was behind these incidents. The explosives that were manufactured at the government unit at Dholpur at Rajasthan were being diverted by these organized gangs. It was also found that many of these lorries had been diverted in connivance with the driver.
Further the probe also revealed that these explosives which are manufactured for quarry work and supplied only to those with a licence was being diverted to Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and also Maharashtra.
The ATS which probed the case also concluded that there was a man by the name Charan who was the mastermind of this racket. It was also revealed that the mastermind in connivance with persons working at the Dholpur factory had been smuggling explosives.
Gelatine
sticks
available
for
Rs
150
each:
The
probe
also
revealed
that
there
was
a
high
demand
for
explosives
among
the
quarry
owners.
They
are
provided
only
with
a
prescribed
quantity
of
explosives.
However
when
they
want
to
carry
out
illegal
quarry
work
beyond
the
prescribed
limit,
they
rely
on
these
explosive
smugglers
too.
Investigations
found
that
it
is
the
quarry
owners
who
were
the
reason
for
this
high
demand
of
illegal
explosives
and
pay
Rs
150
per
gelatine
stick.
While there have been stray incidents in which even terrorist groups have sourced explosives with the help of these smugglers, the bigger menace was the quarry owners, the police had also found. They contribute to 95 per cent of the supply of illegal explosives, an officer with the ATS informed.
The other aspect to this entire episode was the supply of explosives to naxals. A person of Madhya Pradesh origin who was arrested in Bengaluru had confessed that he was supplying the explosives to the naxals.
There is a high demand and naxals have their agents who supply them with explosives that have been procured illegally, he had also confessed. The probe into this person had also led to several disclosures and on the basis of which 1,500 detonators had been seized in 2010 from naxalites in Jharkhand as well.
OneIndia News