COIMBATORE: Coimbatore rural police on Wednesday arrested nine persons for possession of 622 gelatin sticks and 1,244 detonators. Karamadai SI Sultan Ibrahim and head constable Sivaprakash who were on patrol duty on Wednesday morning found four persons sitting near a graveyard at Kannarpalayam Pirivu with luggage.
After seeing the police, they threw away some luggage. Noticing this, police secured the four persons and checked the luggage, and found 650 detonators. The police arrested M Dinesh (23), and P Anand (25), both hailed from Thrissur, K Senthilkumar (43) from Thiruvarur, and A Sureshkumar (41) from Kallipalayam near Karamadai.
Police said Senthilkumar and Sureshkumar were working with S Rangaraj, (46) of Karamadai who ran a firm to demolish old buildings. A Preliminary inquiry revealed that Rangaraj did not get a licence from the government to possess the explosives and detonators and use them. However, he used to sell the detonators illegally to Kerala-based buyers.
Police arrested Rangaraj and held a further investigation. He told police that he stocked 622 gelatin sticks and 350 detonators in a place at Nambiyur in Erode district. The police seized the materials from the place.
He also revealed that he bought the materials from three people - P Perumal, (60)of Sirumugai who possessed a licence to possess explosive materials. But he should not sell the explosives to unlicensed people. C Gopal, (58) from Karagoundenpalayam near Annur, and P Chandrasekaran (58)from Karamadai.
The police arrested the trio for illegally supplying explosive materials -Gelatin sticks and electric detonators. One more person Kumar (43) of Nambiyur was also arrested by the police. V Badrinarayanan, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore visited Karamadai and appreciated SI Sultan Ibrahim and head constable Sivaprakash.