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A total of 161 packets of suspected explosive material have been recovered from near a school in Uttarakhand’s Almora, police said Friday.
The principal of Government Inter College, Dabra, informed the local police station on Thursday that while playing near the school, some children noticed a suspicious substance strewn in bushes nearby. A police team reached the spot and secured the area, and 161 sticks with suspicious explosives were recovered from the site.
SSP Devendra Pincha on Friday night said the explosives were similar to gelatin sticks used commonly in road construction work for stone blasting. “We are probing how the substance ended up at the spot,” he said, appealing to the public not to pay attention to rumours regarding this matter.
On Friday, the bomb disposal and dog squad teams were called to the location, and samples were collected.
An FIR has been registered at the police station against unknown persons under section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, that deals with attempting to cause an explosion or making or possessing explosives with the intent to endanger life or property, and BNS section 288, which deals with negligent conduct with respect to explosives.
Police said a team is conducting a detailed investigation into who brought the sticks there and for what purpose.
The FIR, on the complaint of Assistant Sub-inspector Diwan Singh Bisht, said police seized 161 cylindrical plastic packets on which is printed: “901 emulsion explosives 125 gm by SBL Energy Limited.”
The officer said that on Thursday, at around 2.50 pm, the principal of the school called to inform them that some packets bearing the word “explosives” had been found in the bushes near the school.
“Police personnel, maintaining caution and observing from a distance, saw a large number of cylindrical three-colour plastic packets spread around. The packets bore the inscription, and since these plastic packets appeared to be suspicious explosive material, the location was cordoned off with rope for security,” the FIR said.
On the instructions received from higher authorities that the scene must be held secure until the bomb disposal squad arrived and that further action would be taken only after their arrival, police remained on the school premises to guard the recovered suspicious explosive material.
On Friday, the bomb disposal squad and the dog squad teams arrived at the scene from Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts. “They examined the site and, using equipment and the dogs Molly and Rambo, carried out a search operation around the area. During the search operation, approximately 15-20 feet from the location where the initial suspicious explosive material was found, additional similar cylindrical plastic packets were recovered in considerable numbers. Around 1 pm on Friday, these additional packets were recovered. The recovered packets were placed into a white plastic sack, tied with white cloth cord, sealed and survey-sealed as sample seals,” the FIR said.
The memo of the bomb disposal squad said that the recovered gelatin sticks remain potentially hazardous until they are detonated or neutralised.
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