Samples collected from unearthed explosives

MADURAI

: Officials from the Petroleum and

Explosives

Organization on Friday collected samples from the huge haul of explosive substances that were unearthed on June 25th at Thangachimadam coastal village in Rameswaram. The ammunition suspected to be buried by militant groups in the 1980s surfaced when a fisherman dug a pit to construct a septic tank.

A total of 5,500 medium machine gun rounds, 400 heavy machine gun rounds, 4,928 self-loading rifle rounds, 199 TNT slab demolitions, four big safety fuse wires and four small safety fuse wires, 20 landmines, 20 M-5 302 rifle rounds, 11 gunpowder packets for SLR and 87 signal rounds were recovered.

On Friday the team led by deputy controller of explosives Sheikh Hussain from Chennai, accompanied by Ramnad district police inspected the explosives and collected samples for the second time. Official sources said that the explosives are likely to be shifted to a godown at Sivaganga district under tight security on Saturday. This is the second time the officials have collected samples from the explosive substances and inspected other ammunition.