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New Indian Express
2 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
Trucks with explosives seized in Odisha; warehouse owner, driver held
ROURKELA: Two days after seizing a couple of mini-trucks laden with blasting explosives, RN Pali police arrested the explosives warehouse owner and his driver and produced them in court on Tuesday. The arrest of Shraban Agarwal (41) and his driver Birsa Samad (30) comes after the two explosives-laden trucks were found parked outside a fuel station at Deogaon near Balughat on June 1. Police said Agarwal has two explosive licences including one in the name of his wife and owns a warehouse at the remote Itma in Bargaon block of Sundargarh district. On May 27, three trucks carrying explosives had come out of the warehouse. One of the trucks was looted by Maoists from K Balang area. Agarwal kept the other two trucks hidden and lied to police that the explosives were delivered to clients. Police said around 23,000 pieces of gelatin sticks, 400 detonators and 22,500 metres of detonating fuse wires were seized from one vehicle. Seizure from the other truck included 3,750 metre wires, 2,718 gelatin sticks and 30 packets of detonators. One of the trucks was driven by Agarwal himself. He along with his driver parked the two trucks outside Rourkela Fuel Filling Station at Deogaon on May 30. Two days later, locals informed the police about the parked vehicles. Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said the accused failed to produce any valid document for the explosives. Agarwal kept the trucks hidden with the intention to sell the explosives later at a higher cost. So far, Agarwal's link with Maoists has not come to notice. On May 27 morning, Maoists had hijacked an explosives-laden truck from near a stone quarry at Banko within K Balang police limits. They took the vehicle to the nearby forest and unloaded the explosives. Later, the ultras carried the explosives to Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. On May 30, the security forces of Odisha and Jharkhand recovered a portion of the looted explosives after an exchange of fire with the Maoists at Tirilposh inside Saranda forest. Subsequently on Monday, the forces recovered about 2.5 tonne of looted explosives from Saranda.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- New Indian Express
After Maoist loot, cops seize two trucks laden with explosives
ROURKELA: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Rourkela police on Sunday recovered two explosives-laden trucks parked suspiciously near a fuel station at Balughat in RN Pali here for the last two days. The recovery comes close on the heels of the loot of huge quantity of blasting explosives by Maoists from Banko forest in K Balang on May 27. The source of the explosives looted by Maoists and the explosives seized on Sunday has been traced to the same warehouse in Bargaon block of Sundargarh district. The warehouse has been sealed from May 28. Sources said about 116 packets of gelatine sticks, 416 detonators and 750 metre of charging electric wires were recovered from the two trucks. Police said it is suspected that owner of the warehouse Shraban Agarwal is involved in illegal supply of explosives to stone quarries and mines for monetary gain. A top police officer said during investigation, the SIT learnt that on May 27, three trucks laden with explosives had come out of the warehouse. While one truck was looted by the Maoists, the two others were kept hidden. During interrogation in the K Balang case, the warehouse owner told police that explosives loaded in the two trucks were delivered to clients.
