All Edison, a fisherman living in Anthoniyarpuram, wanted to was to construct a septic tank in his backyard. Little did he know that he would end up playing host to groups of policemen all through Monday night, who would be digging up his backyard and taking out boxes of ammunition and explosives.
As workers began digging, they hit buried boxes, and decided to inform the tahsildar, who then called the police.
The police then unearthed boxes of explosives and ammunition from the site after the tahsildar had informed them about the discovery on Monday evening. According to the police, 10000 live rounds, 200 packets of Trinitrotoluene (TNT), detonating wires and live mines were unearthed.
The police suspect that this was the property of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), groups that were active in the late 1980’s in the region.
Speaking to TNM, M Magesh, the Deputy Superintendent of Police said: “We suspect that it could have been buried here by the now defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group when they were active. We have filed a case under the Explosives Act and Arms act and are investigating the matter.”
Om Prakash Meena, the Superintendent of Police, said, “We got information at 5 pm on Monday and launched an operation immediately to dig the place. We finished the operation at around 2 am on Tuesday.”
However, social media was rife with conspiracy theories about this haul, which they allege was used to organise and instigate anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi.
BJP National Secretary H Raja alleged on Twitter and Facebook on late Sunday night that this ammunition was a part of what was used in Thoothukudi to fuel the anti-Sterlite protests and that ‘naxals’ and the Church was behind this arrangement.
இராமேஸ்வரத்தில் அந்தோணியார்புரத்தில் எடிசன் என்பவர்வீட்டில் தோண்டத் தோண்ட நவீன ஆயுதங்கள். தூத்துக்குடியில் நடந்தது நக்சல், சர்ச் கூட்டணியின் பரிமாணம். அது தமிழகம்முழுவதும் பரவியுள்ளது. இதன் பின்னணியில் உள்ள"வந்தேறி மாடுகள்"உடனடியாக அடையாளம் காணப்படவேண்டும். உளவுத்துறைக்கு சவால் pic.twitter.com/ma5E3YRCZd
— H Raja (@HRajaBJP) June 25, 2018
This allegation, however, was rubbished by DSP Magesh.
“This were all made in 1984, and hence are unusable now. So it could not have been used to instigate people in Thoothukudi for the protests,” he said.
“A portion of the haul is in usable condition. But there were roots of trees growing on and all around the boxes when we dug out. Hence there is no way that these boxes were dug out before and were buried back,” SP Om Prakash Meena said.
The BJP has time and again claimed that Tamil Nadu is home to Naxals and terrorists. Recently, Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan had also alleged that terrorists were present in Tamil Nadu.