Explosives experts from the National Security Guards (NSG) have reportedly examined the unexploded claymore type anti-personnel landmines discovered by a local on a dried-up stretch of the Bharathapuzha river at Kuttippuram in Malappuram last week.
The NSG officers appeared to be looking for markings that would perhaps throw light on the origin of the lethal military-grade ordinance.
The mines are in the custody of the police at the Armed Reserve Camp in Malappuram. They were contained in a mud pit to cushion any accidental detonation. The police suspect that the five claymore type anti-personnel mines, believed to have been manufactured in the 1980s, were deposited at the spot near the base of a rail overbridge recently. They viewed the chance discovery of the explosives as a matter of grave national security concern.
The police were also in touch with the Army to find out if they had lost any similar mines. They hope markings, if any, on the mines might help investigators find out which unit of the Army issued the devices.
Naxals or not?
The police said it was too early in the probe to point fingers. However, they were searching hard for possible motives against the backdrop of covert radical activities, including Left extremism, in North Kerala.
An official said ordinance in possession of the Army was well accounted for and any illegal diversion would be immediately flagged up by commanders.
The claymores, with a seemingly more plastic and less metallic covering, very much resembled the ordinance used by the Indian Army, especially along the country’s western border. The Chinese and Nepal armies also used similar weapons. Investigators said directional mines like claymores with their shaped charges were commonly used by insurgents to target convoys. They could be triggered remotely and also used as booby traps to mount ambushes from afar, making their chance discovery in yet to be identified non-State hands all the more alarming.
Inspector General of Police, Thrissur Range, M.R. Ajith Kumar, has chaired a meeting of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) tasked to investigate the case. SP, Malappuram, Debash Kumar Behra, and Jason Abraham, SP, attended the meeting.
