VELLORE:Tension prevailed at the Sathuvachari post office after an envelope containing explosive materials addressed to the district Collector was found in the post box on Friday.
One of the staff found the envelope around 8.35 am when he was clearing the post box to dispatch letters. He grew suspicious on seeing wires and timer that slipped down from the poorly wrapped cover and alerted higher authorities. On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and took possession of the material.
According to police sources, the memory card contained a strongly worded letter in Tamil which demanded the Collector to take action against illegal sand quarries and regulate the tenders floated for new quarries. “There were three slurries and an equal number of detonators with a timer and a memory card in the cover. A hand-written message ‘read the memory card’ in English was written on the cover,” said SP P K Senthil Kumari.
The letter stated that the Collector should take stern action to prevent illegal sand mining and that there were irregularities in floating tenders for running sand quarries. If he failed to do so, explosive attacks will be carried out, the SP said citing the letter. “The letter was computer typed and attributed to Iyarkai Vala Paathukappu Kuzhuvin Amaipavalar (Convener of the Natural Resources Protection Forum),” the SP added.
Experts from the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad in Chennai would investigate the explosive material on Saturday.