Army Personnel checking in next to the wall in Golf Enclave on Thursday afternoon
Hyderabad: Amid the ongoing probe into the recent theft of a dozen sophisticated firearms and ammunition from the Madras Regiment armoury, Army personnel made another startling discovery on Wednesday — 160 electric detonators found behind a wall near the firing range in the military zone in Bollaram. They cost about Rs 500 each. Sub-inspector (SI), Bollarum police, who was on duty at the Army area along with his staff as part of the investigation into the armoury theft, a subedar of the 20 Madras Regiment first him informed him about the detonators on Wednesday afternoon, according to K Bhadya Naik. Based on the SI’s complaint, police also registered a case under Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act late on Wednesday evening.
Police said that the 33A-size commercial electrical detonators, primarily used for controlled blasting at construction and mining sites, were found near an adjoining residential venture, Golf Enclave. The subedar said that they were found in a geen plastic bucket by Army personnel, while conducting a search near the rear wall of the camp’s firing range. On the advice of the BD team, the detonators were secured to be safely disposed of by BD authorities, following required safety protocols,” Bollarum police said, adding that they are trying to identify the land development contractors who may have abandoned them there. Ruling out any connection with the armoury theft, Ch Sridhar, deputy commissioner of police, Malkajgiri, said the detonators were found on land belonging to a private venture.
Police, alerted by the Army personnel, seized the detonators and registered a suo motu case under the Explosive Substances Act. It appeared that the detonators had been abandoned by unknown persons. “They were seized in the presence of two independent witnesses. “They are suspected to have been used by developers at least about a year ago. This incident is not related to the ongoing investigation in the Army area at all,” the DCP maintained.