Boxes of ammunition and explosives unearthed from the backyard of a house in Anthoniyarpuram in Rameswaram were shifted to the godown maintained under the Joint Chief Controller of Explosives in Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu, on Friday. Decision on whether it is safe to store the explosives for a longer time will be taken in a week or two.
Confirming the development to TNM, Om Prakash Meera, Superintendent of Police, Rameswaram said, “The process of handing over of the unearthed explosives completed today. The next step would be taken after we receive report from the forensics expert on the state of explosives. If the report says that it is unsafe to keep it in the godown, the officials will destroy it immediately.”
Meanwhile the police will undertake investigation on the explosives and ammunition that was found to see if there are any criminal activities in relation to the goods.
The police unearthed 10000 live rounds, 200 packets of Trinitritoluene (TNT), detonating wires and live mines packed inside iron boxes from a fisherman’s house in June. The house owner, Edison, who hit the iron boxes while digging the ground to construct a septic tank, immediately alerted the Tahsildar and the police.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police, M Magesh had told TNM that it could have been buried by the now defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The police had filed a case under the Explosives Act and the Arms Act after the haul.
However,social media was rife with conspiracy theories linked with the haul of arms and explosives. BJP National Secretary H Raja had alleged that a part of the haul was used to fuel the protests in Thoothukudi against Sterlite Copper Smelter Plant. He also alleged that the ‘naxals’ and the Church was behind the arrangement.
This claim was however rubbished by the police who told that the arms were all manufactured in 1984 and were in unusable condition.
The police also said that though a portion of the haul was in usable condition, since there were roots of trees growing in and around the boxes, there was no way that this could have been used to instigate the protests in Thoothukudi.