The police have intensified investigations to find the source of the explosives that were recovered from a closed granite quarry at Ambalavayal in the district on Wednesday. K. Muhammed Shaffi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who is in charge of the probe, told reporters that the seized explosives would be defused after producing it before the First Class Magistrate court at Sulthan Bathery.
The Ambalavayal police had recovered 31,900 detonators, 50 electric detonators and 980 gelatin sticksfrom the godown owned by Kangumpurath Ibrahim Kutty, a former dealer of explosives.
The raid was carried out on the basis of information gathered from Ibrahim Kutty's son, Ismail, who was arrested at Thenjippalam in Malappuram district recently in connection with illegally stocking of explosives in a rented room at Chaliparambu near Chelambra, the police said.
Earlier cases
Ibrahim Kutty had been arrested by the Tamil Nadu police in June 2007 in connection with a seizure of explosives under the Madhava Madhura police station limit in Sivaganga district. The Tamil Nadu police had reportedly seized 729 kg of explosives from a vehicle in the incident.
LTTE connection
Those in the vehicle told the police that the explosives belonged to Ibrahim Kutty and they were to be handed over to LTTE activists. Ibrahim Kutty was sentenced to six-month imprisonment in 2007 under the Preventive Detention Act , the police said.
The police had asked the Joint Chief Controller of Explosives (South Circle, Chennai) to cancel the explosives licence of Ibrahim Kutty. The licence was cancelled on December 22, 2008, the police said.
12 similar cases
As many as 12 explosives-related cases had been registered against him since 1999, the police said.
It is reported that the police had recovered as many as 415 high potent detonators, 100 gelatin sticks, 650 kg ammonium nitrate and 3,500- metre fuse wire, which were illegally possessed by three men, from different parts of Ambalavayal area in 2009.
