Explosive materials that were being stored in a storage unit at Puloothu, near Nagamalai Pudukottai here, were destroyed under the supervision of the Controller of Explosives, South Circle, on Saturday.
The materials, which included gunpowder, ammonium nitrate, cortex wires and electrical detonators, had been seized from K.G. Granites in Idayapatti and Sindhu Granites in Thiruvadhavur in the year 2012 stating to be illegally possessed by the companies.
The seized explosives and detonators were then stored at a privately-owned storage unit in Puloothu.
“The owner of the storage unit had filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court asking for the explosive materials to be transferred from his unit. We are destroying a few of the explosive materials which cannot be transferred since they cannot be transported together,” C. Shanmugam, Controller of Explosives, South Circle, told The Hindu after destroying them.
The explosives were inspected by a team led by the Controller of Explosives from Chennai and the district police personnel. The materials to be destroyed were segregated and then taken to a pit which was dug a few kms away from the storage unit. The materials destroyed included 35 kg of gunpowder, 1,815 safety fuses and 1,400 metres of cortex wires.
While a part of the materials were destroyed, the rest were transported to the Tamil Nadu Industrial Explosives Limited storage unit at Katpadi near Vellore. The materials transported included 1,800 simple detonators, 496 electrical detonators, 45,250 metres of cortex wires and 150 kg of ammonium nitrate.
