159 country bombs seized in Tirunelveli
A surprise raid conducted by the police in the coastal hamlet of Kooththenkuzhi, about 75 km from here on Sunday morning, has led to the seizure of 159 country bombs.
The village, known for its ‘country bomb culture’, has witnessed several clashes between two fishermen groups. Police conducted a pre-dawn raid on June 13 last and seized over 300 country bombs, all kept in plastic buckets and buried in an isolated place near the village.
When the Koodankulam police picked up S. Santa Cruz (32) of Kooththenkuzhi on Saturday as he was moving around in a suspicious manner about two km from the village, he reportedly told the police about the improvised explosives stockpiled by one of the warring groups on the village outskirts.
The police team, led by Valliyoor DSP, P. Balaji, entered the village around 7 a.m. and searched for the explosives at 29 places. The law-enforcers recovered 159 country bombs kept in three plastic buckets and an ice-box, all buried deep in isolated places north of Kooththenkuzhi.
“We’ve kept the seized explosives in water and the bombs will be defused by the experts immediately,” said Mr. Balaji.
Both Kooththenkuzhi and neighbouring Idinthakarai are known for allegedly harbouring persons who make country bombs to settle scores between fishermen groups.
Several lives had been lost in the clashes in the past on the land and sea in which these explosives were liberally used.
Though this prompted the police to conduct surprise checks twice a year based on intelligence inputs from the two villages, the exercise did not go very far.
It helped, though, in preventing clashes. But they stopped abruptly a couple of years ago. .
On November 26, 2012, a massive explosion at Tsunami Colony, one and half km from the KKNPP complex, killed 8 persons. From a shattered dwelling, which appeared to be an illegal explosives factory in the middle of a residential layout, a bomb disposal squad recovered two live bombs and 7.25 kg of explosive materials.
The latest seizure has compelled the police to revive its earlier practice of conducting surprise checks at Kooththenkuzhi and Idinthakarai twice a year.
SOURCE: PTI