Manufacture of crude bombs may involve grave risk to life, yet their production continues unabated in Kannur, a region marked by political rivalry-spurred violence.
Worksite accidents while making such bombs have resulted in several casualties, the latest being the death of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker at Kathirur earlier last month.
Despite this, crude bombs are not in short supply, according to the police who suspect there may now be experts to make them as per demand. In the past five months, they unearthed at least 45 country-made bombs. And, this may just be a tip of the iceberg.
What the police personnel cannot easily locate is the source of their manufacturing, which comes in different makes.
For example, the bombs seized during the past five months include 25 ‘steel’ bombs, 16 ordinary country-made bombs, and four ‘ice-cream’ bombs. They are known after the containers used to pack explosives in.
“These materials are very common domestic items sold everywhere,” says District Police Chief Kori Sanjaykumar Gurudin. He says intensive raids and searches are regularly carried out to unearth illegal arms and explosives.
Explosives
The containers are filled with explosives mixed with shrapnel, which include mainly nails and ball bearings for maximum effect.
Venues where the bombs are kept for use include vacant plots, uninhabited house compounds, and deserted hilltops.
The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) personnel says tension-ridden parts such as Kolavallur here used to be a hub of bomb making till recently.
Tension-torn areas around Iritty are now under the scanner of the squad. Soda bottles, pickle bottles, coconut shells, and paint vessels are used as containers. “Earlier, when we seized the bombs we could say whether they were made by CPI(M) workers or RSS workers because of some differences in ‘styles’ such as the use of gum to cover the lid of the containers,” says an officer of the squad who pleaded anonymity.
Such differences have disappeared now, he said, adding their ‘uniformity’ raised suspicion that the work for making the bombs had been outsourced to ‘experts’ in the field of fireworks.
The explosives used for making crude bombs are those used for making fireworks such as potassium chlorate and arsenic sulphide, among others, according to the police.
Source
The explosive substances are sourced from those involved in making fireworks.
As the crude bombs are often kept in vacant public and private plots, the BDDS have conducted classes for workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme on how to handle suspicious objects found during their work.
“We tell these local workers not to hit the suspicious object with their implements to avert explosion, which will be fatal,” the officer of the squad says.
