KANNUR:Sending shockwaves across the state, a huge cache of explosives was seized from the premises of a mosque at Manappuram, near Edakkad beach, here on Monday. In all, 10 country bombs, knives, iron pipes and leaflets belonging to a Muslim extremist outfit were recovered from a chamber forming part of an unoccupied building near the mosque during a police raid. Posters of the Social Democratic Party of India, the rechristened political wing of the NDF, and caps of its volunteers were also recovered from the hideout. The weapons and the explosives were recovered following intensive statewide raids on suspected hideouts of the Popular Front strongholds in the wake of the recent amputation of a college teacher’s hand in Thodupuzha allegedly by Popular Front activists. The recovery of the explosives from a place close to a mosque has virtually shaken the peace-loving people of Manappuram. On the eve of the visit of the Vice-President, the police had spotted 300 detonators and explosives in a private bus during a routine search in front of the Edakkad police station. Investigators are groping in the dark regarding the origin of the large quantity of detonators. Meanwhile, vested interests are leaving no stone unturned to trivialise the issue stating that the detonators were meant for some granite quarries. But the moot question is how could the police absolve itself of the responsibility of finding the origin of the detonators and how it came to be transported via a private bus? The sub-divisional office of the Social Democratic Party of India on OV Road in Thalassery too was raided on Monday. During the raid the police recovered some iron pipes and CDs from the premises of the office. Though the raids are likely to continue in the coming days, no one is sure how many of those working behind the stockpiling of weapons and explosives would be apprehended by the law enforcement agencies.