Explosives in pickup van loaded with watermelons; seized on Palakkad NH

PALAKKAD: A cache of explosives was seized on the national highway. An attempt was made to smuggle them in a pickup van loaded with watermelons. The vehicle headed for Thrissur was caught by the Palakkad Town South Police near the medical college at around 8:30 pm last night. The vehicle, which did not stop, was chased and taken into custody.

The driver was also taken into custody. The boxes containing explosives were kept under the loaded watermelon. Detonators and gelatin sticks were seized. The van was carrying more than a hundred boxes in the vehicle. The illegal items were hidden among the watermelon sacks brought from Thiruppur in Dharapuram, Tamil Nadu. The police suspect that these were for the use in granite quarry.