In a sensitive seizure close to the north-eastern borders of Delhi, the Ghaziabad police recovered 700 detonators from the junk yard of a scrap-dealer in Loni on Sunday.
The incident came to light after one of the detonators exploded on Saturday evening severely injuring two children.
A team of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force had also reached the spot on Monday morning for carrying out investigation.
According to sources, the police are now trying to establish whether these detonators were to be used for mining purpose or for setting off explosive devices. The police have arrested the scrap-dealer, identified as Ram Prakash, and are questioning him about the source of the detonators.
It has been revealed that Ram Prakash used to get scrap from Nangloi in West Delhi. On Sunday also he had received a truck full of junk.“He usually extracts copper metal from the junk he gets. Yesterday his sons also accompanied him in the business. As soon as they struck the hammer in the scrap, there was a loud explosion that injured the children. The locals then made a PCR call and they were taken to a hospital,” said a police officer.
Ram Prakash’s sons Rinku (13) and Shivam (10) were critically injured and are admitted to a hospital.
The police team that reached the spot found that the metal that exploded was in the form of a detonator. When they further searched the premises of the junk yard, they found around 700 similar detonators and took them into possession.
The locals later told the police that they had heard a loud explosion on Saturday night. Some even said that the explosion was so loud that the utensils fell off from the kitchen shelves of their homes. Others said that the walls of their house cracked due to the explosion.
While senior police officers remained tight-lipped, the Station House Officer of Loni police station said they were questioning Ram Prakash on the source of the detonators.
