R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (RJP)

Karkala, Oct 22: Karkala police led by ASP Dr Sumana raided a private property at Durga Tellar near here on Wednesday, October 21 and seized a large quantity of ammonium nitrate.

Ammonium nitrate seized from Biju Thomas in a previous raid

The ammonium nitrate stored in nearly 150 sacks has been estimated to be worth about Rs 3 lac.

As per the information available to the police, the place belongs to Wilson of Kerala origin and it was leased out to Biju Thomas, also from Kerala, some months back.

This is not the first time Biju has been involved in storing ammonium nitrate. In 2007, the then ASP Labhu Ram had seized explosives at Ajekar and arrested a person named Biju.

Also, in 2010, Kerala police with the help of Karkala police had arrested Biju and taken him to Kerala.

Again, in March 2014, the ASP and present Udupi SP Annamalai had raided a place at Nakre Varnabettu and seized 4 loads of ammonium nitrate. He had also arrested Biju Thomas then.

However, in the latest raid on October 21, Biju could not be found and is suspected to have gone absconding.