Tamil Nadu: 2 Pipe Bombs Recovered From Cement Factory In Tirunelveli, No Untoward Reported

The Tirunelveli district police recovered two 'pipe bombs' from the premises of a private cement factory on the outskirts of city on Tuesday.

Representative Image

Madurai: The Tirunelveli district police recovered two 'pipe bombs' from the premises of a private cement factory on the outskirts of city on Tuesday.

The handmade explosive devices were found with wires and fuses, hidden in a secluded place at the factory.

Police suspect terminated contract workers for planting these improvised explosive devices at the factory premises.

Some hundreds of permanent employees and over a thousand contract workers were said to be working in this a private cement factory in Sankar Nagar that supplies construction material to Tamil Nadu and neighbouring state Kerala.

The police sources said that the factory officials on Tuesday night received a phone call from unknown people warning them that bombs had been placed at five spots on the factory premises, which would explode shortly. The caller demanded RS 50 lakh from the staff to prevent explosion.

After being alerted by the officials, the Thazhaiyoothu police reached the spot along with bomb disposal squad and searched for the explosives. The bomb detection and disposal squad found two 'pipe bombs' and safely diffused them on Wednesday.

Recently, some of the contract employees were stopped from work following the Tamil Nadu government’s lockdown rules which permitted factories to function with restricted number of workers in view of Covid-19. 

“We suspect the involvement of good number of people in this sabotage. The investigation is on to identify the culprits,” an officer said. 

(With news inputs from TOI)