Kolkata, Aug 14 (IANS) Following a raid and search operation, a Birbhum District Police team in West Bengal recovered a huge cache of gelatin explosives from Rampurhat in Birbhum district on Friday.
A district police official said that on a tip off by a source, a police team from the Rampurhat police station raided a private residence in the Bathan Para area of Ayas village in Rampurhat on Friday.
Following the raid and search operations, 304 gelatin sticks were recovered from the residence.
The owner of the house, Shariful Islam, was first questioned and later arrested. He was first taken to the Rampurhat Police Station and later presented at a district court in Birbhum, which ordered police custody for the accused.
The Investigating Officers are currently questioning Shariful Islam on the sources of these gelatin sticks and the purpose with which they were stored at his residence.
The cops are trying to find out whether such a huge stock of gelatin sticks was intended to carry out any sort of insurgency activities in the district or in the state.
This is the third major recovery of explosives from Birbhum district in the last two months.
First on July 25 this year, the sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) recovered a large cache of explosives, including 20 bags of ammonium nitrate and multiple detonators, during a raid in Naihati in the same district and arrested one person in connection with the case.
Again, on July 29, the cops of Birbhum district recovered 800 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, 12,400 pieces of gelatin sticks, 105 detonators and 36 detonating fuse coils from a house in Lakhnamara village in Nalhati Block, which is popular as a stone-quarry hub in Birbhum district.
The Intelligence wing of West Bengal Police recently increased surveillance following the arrest of suspected Jaish‑e‑Mohammed (JeM) associate, Hamim Mondal and his close associates Arpita Sarkar and Aditya Singh alias Raj.
It was later learnt that besides JeM, both Hamim and Arpita had close links with the Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN), a Pakistan-based terrorist-criminal group.
Earlier this week, the sleuths of the Special Task Force of the state police arrested a Pakistani national having links with Pakistan’s primary and most powerful military Intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Wahab Alam and his local associate Mohammad Izaz.
–IANS
src/rad
