Maharashtra: 12,000 Gelatin Sticks, 3008 Detonators Seized, 1 Held

Sixty-three boxes containing 12,000 gelatin sticks and four boxes with 3,008 detonators were seized and one person arrested in Karivali area of Thane district’s Bhiwandi township, police said on Tuesday. Acting on a tip off, a team of Thane police’s Crime Branch Unit I on Monday raided the premises of a firm on Chinchoti Road dealing in building materials and undertaking quarry contracts, said Senior Inspector Krishna Kokni.

‘The value of the 12,000 gelatin sticks in 63 boxes and 3,008 detonators in four boxes is Rs 2,42,600. Gurunath Kashinath Mhatre, the owner of the office where the raid was conducted, was arrested under IPC and Explosives Act for possessing these items without any kind of permit,’ Kokni informed. Bhoiwada police in Bhiwandi is probing the case further, including the source of the gelatin sticks and detonators and the purpose for which they were stored in such huge quantities, the official added.

WHAT IS A GELATIN STICK ?

Gelignite also known as blasting gelatin or simply jelly, is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpetre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate). Gelatin sticks are cheap explosive materials used by industries for the purpose of mining and construction-related work, like building structures, roads, rails and tunnels etc. They cannot be used without a detonator