970 Electric Detonators Recovered In J&K’s Ramban, Case Registered
As many as 970 electric detonators were recovered along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district on Sunday, police said. The recovery was made near the higher secondary school Ukhral in the Ramsoo area following information that an unattended bag was lying in the mud with some explosive material, a police official said.
He said the search of the bag led to the recovery of 970 industrial grade electric detonators which had proper packaging. A case under the Explosive Act was registered in this regard, the official said, adding further investigation is on. No one was arrested in connection with the recovery so far, he said.
WHAT IS A DETONATOR ?
A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common.
The commercial use of explosives uses electrical detonators or the capped fuse which is a length of safety fuse to which an ordinary detonator has been joined. Many detonators’ primary explosive is a material called ASA compound. This compound is formed from lead azide, lead styphnate and aluminum and is pressed into place above the base charge, usually TNT or tetryl in military detonators and PETN in commercial detonators.
Other materials such as DDNP (diazo dinitro phenol) are also used as the primary charge to reduce the amount of lead emitted into the atmosphere by mining and quarrying operations. Old detonators used mercury fulminate as the primary, often mixed with potassium chlorate to yield better performance.
A blasting cap is a small sensitive primary explosive device generally used to detonate a larger, more powerful and less sensitive secondary explosive such as TNT, dynamite, or plastic explosive.
