Odisha police raids explosive warehouses in three districts, 2 held

A day after recovering around 2.5 tonnes of gelatin sticks looted by Maoists in Sundergarh district, Odisha Police on Tuesday intensified raids on different explosive godowns in three districts and arrested two persons for allegedly violating explosive act, a senior officer said. The raids on explosive warehouses were being conducted in the mineral-rich and bordering police districts of Sundergarh, Rourkela and Keonjhar, DIG, Western Rang, Brijesh Rai told PTI.

The DIG said that Sraban Agarwal, the owner of a warehouse at Badagaon in Sundergarh district and the driver of a truck transporting explosive materials, were arrested by the Special Investigating Team (SIT). The arrests were made based on the detection of two explosive-laden trucks at a place in Raghunathpali police station area on Sunday. The police had found parking of explosive-loaded trucks near a petrol pump following which one driver was arrested. The materials were getting transported to some undisclosed place. The explosive materials were taken from Sraban Agarwal's warehouse, police said. Earlier, police had detained Agarwal in Rourkela and later arrested him following interrogations by the SIT. His Badgaon warehouse was sealed last week after the May 27 incident (Maoist loot of explosives), which raised alarms about explosive security and potential misuse.

Police sources said that three explosives-laden trucks left Agarwal's warehouse on May 27. While Maoists looted one truckload of explosives, Agrawal misled authorities by claiming the other two trucks were delivered to clients. However, police later on Sunday found two explosives-laden trucks parked suspiciously near a fuel station at Balughat in Raghunathpali area. About 116 packets of gelatin sticks, 416 detonators and 750 metre of charging electric wires were recovered from the two trucks, fuelling suspicions of a broader illegal trade.

Police arrested Agarwal for illegally supplying explosives to stone quarries and mines by violating the standard operating procedure (SOP). The security personnel on Monday recovered around 2.5 tonnes of explosives during a search operation in jungles near Saranda forest on the Jharkhand border. On May 27, armed Maoists had hijacked the explosives-laden truck from Banko stone quarry in the K Balang area of Sundergarh district.

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