NIA arrests two in West Bengal detonator seizure case

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made two fresh arrests in the West Bengal detonator seizure matter, an official said here on Saturday.

The accused, arrested on Friday, were identified as Merazuddin Ali Khan, a resident of Bokaro and Mir Md. Nuruzzaman of Birbhum.

In June 2022, a Tata Sumo car, which was found transporting around 81,000 electric detonators was intercepted by STF Kolkata. The cache of detonators were seized and Ashis Keora, the driver, was arrested.

Keora led the police to a stash of illegally stored explosives, including 27,000 kgs of ammonium nitrate, 1625 kgs of gelatine sticks and 2325 more electric detonators.

Initially, the case was lodged at PS Md Bazar and later was taken over by the NIA in September 2022. After probing the matter, the NIA made its first arrest in January 2023. They arrested one Rintu SK.

Now, two more accused have been arrested from Raniganj and Kolkata.

"While Mir Md. Nuruzzaman had supplied 27,000 kgs of ammonium nitrate to Rintu Sk, Merazuddin Ali Khan had supplied electric detonators and gelatine sticks to Rintu SK," the official said.

Further investigation in the matter is on.