The Thodupuzha police in Kerala's Idukki district seized explosive materials from a private individual's land on Wednesday afternoon.
The team, acting on a tip off, arrived at the isolated land in Manakkadu, only to find explosives hidden under the grass. The police have seized 188 electrical detonators and 41 packets of gelatine from the land that belongs to an individual who does not live in the area.
Thodupuzha Sub-Inspector, Jobin Antony told The News Minute that the source of the materials is yet to be ascertained.
While the inspector ruled out the possibility of political violence in the area, he said that the primary suspicion is that the materials were meant to be used for quarrying.
"These are not the kinds of explosives that are generally used when violence breaks out. This appears to be meant for quarrying purposes, though there are not many quarries in the area. 188 detonators and 41 gelatine packets are in fact a considerable amount of explosives. While earlier, gelatine used to come in the form of sticks, the ones we seized today were stored in small plastic bags," the inspector said.
While the police have identified the owner of the land from where the explosives were found, he claims to have no knowledge about the incident.
"We suspect some miscreants identified this abandoned spot to hide the explosives and that large scale unlicensed quarrying is being carried out in the nearby areas. Although there are a few houses near the plot of land, none of the people living there seem to have any information on this. The investigation is on," the sub-inspector said.