Kozhikode: Mukkam police on Sunday seized over 300 gelatin sticks from an abandoned private land on the Valiyaparamba-Thondayil Road in Karassery panchayat. The boxes with the explosives were unearthed after residents in the area alerted the police about the same.
The incident came to light when a youth became suspicious of the boxes left abandoned on a plot only a few metres from the busy panchayat road. Due to curiosity, the youth, along with a few others, checked the boxes and realised the boxes were stuffed with gelatin sticks.
According to Mukkam police, the powerful explosives were carelessly dumped in five boxes without any safety systems. The police team also conducted extensive searches in the nearby plots as well. It is suspected that the sticks were dumped by the quarry mafia suspecting raids. More details can be revealed only after a detailed examination by explosives experts.
It is to be recalled that police had seized 8,000 gelatin sticks hidden in 44 secret boxes from a truck in 2018.