The Kerala Police on Friday seized 16 bombs that were hidden under the soil in a vacant plot of land near Chelakkad fire station at Nadapuram panchayat in Kozhikode district.
Thirteen pipe bombs and three steel bombs were seized from the land owned by Manjathankandi Moosa Haji. The bombs were first discovered by local workers who had come to take sand from the land for construction purposes.
“The bombs were kept inside two plastic buckets at a corner of the land covered under the sand,” an official of Nadapuram police told TNM.
The locals on discovering the bombs on Friday afternoon informed the Nadapuram police at once. The police after seizing the bombs, have started a probe into the incident. “Nobody has so far been arrested but we have registered a case under Section 4 (Punishment for attempt to cause explosion, or for making or keeping explosive with intent to endanger life or property) of The Explosive Substances Act, 1908,” said the police official.
According to reports, the bombs were newly made and highly explosive. Police along with the bomb detection squad conducted a rigorous search in the area after the incident. The owner of the land, Moosa Haji, was also interrogated as part of the investigation. Reports also say the initial probe revealed that the plastic buckets used to keep the bombs were bought from a shop at Kallachi in Nadapuram itself.
Bombs have been seized from around the area earlier also. Police are on high vigil after seizing the bombs at a time when the state has just concluded the Lok Sabha elections and is waiting for the results.
Nadapuram, the special grade panchayat, is infamous for the violent conflicts of political parties; CPI (M) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).