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| India-Pakistan |
| Â Explosives factory closed as ministry finally wakes up |
| 2009-11-14 |
| The ministry of industries was jolted into action on Friday and it finally closed the explosives factory, three days after the seizure of 58,500 kg of high explosives in DG Khan, which were being driven across the country in a criminally casual and unguarded manner with the devastating load, an easy picking for terrorists. To give an idea, this load was much larger than the total amount of explosives used in suicide attacks in the last four to five years, including the Marriott bombing. The minister for industries Mian Manzoor Wattoo told The News that he has ordered the immediate suspension of the licence of the explosives manufacturer, BIAFO, the sealing of the factory, and has also ordered an inquiry into the matter. Wattoo, however, was not updated on yet another seizure on Thursday of a truckload containing 30,000 detonators in the tribal area adjoining DG Khan. These detonators were manufactured by another factory. The department of explosives is trying to get the information about this case but according to its chief inspector Haroon Rehman, his department is not getting any cooperation from the tribal administration. The first case, according to the minister and the chief inspector, involves all kinds of violations that include unauthorised and illegal transportation of high explosives; carriage of the quantity that was more than seven times the prescribed upper limit - 8000 kg, apparently destined for Saindak project that the authorities insist neither have licensed storage capacity for such material nor does it have the licence to receive such explosives; there was no intimation to any of the provincial government and district authorities from where the two trailers carrying explosives had passed through; both the trucks were without any security cover; the two trailers seized are not specially designed vans that are licenced to carry explosives; and most interestingly the drivers of the trailers told the authorities that they never knew what they were carrying. The journey of the explosive material started from Hattar, Haripur. The two trucks passed through parts of the Frontier province, crossed more than half of Punjab, successfully passed through perhaps dozens of police check points but were caught only in D G Khan. A vivid demonstration of the kind of "high alert" enforced by the two provinces to check terrorists. Wattoo even revealed and an interior ministry document confirmed that en route one of the drivers had even spent a night at his home after parking the explosive laden vehicle outside his house. Chief inspector (Explosives), ministry of industries, Haroon Rehman said that the Chinese company running the Saindak project neither has the storage capacity to handle such quantity of explosives nor the licence to receive or use such material. He said that the company has been asked to provide details of such material received in the past. The interior ministry did not rule out the possibility of pilferage of explosives under such circumstances. However, background interviews and documentary evidence show the government's criminal negligence and a possible collaboration of certain government elements in the undocumented excessive production of high explosive and its smuggling. "Such a situation is extremely conducive for terrorists to get high explosives and then to use it for terrorism," an official source in the ministry of industries said, adding that the past record shows that barring a few exception most of the high explosive used in bomb blasts, suicide bombing and other terrorist activities was all locally manufactured. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 If you have ever seen how those people drive over there, the idea of truck loads of explosives zooming around the highways is frightening. |
| Posted by: Karl Rove 2009-11-14 12:27 |
| #2 I am. I figured they'd stay in business, routinely sending truckloads of explosives careening across the country, occasionally devastating this or that insignificant township or neighborhood. |
| Posted by: Fred 2009-11-14 10:13 |
| #1 So, is anyone surprised? |
| Posted by: tipover 2009-11-14 00:25 |