Ex-serviceman held with 18kg explosives in Chamoli

 Chamoli police have seized 18-kg of explosives from an ex-serviceman on Gopeswhar-Kedarnath road in Chamoli district on Sunday morning.
Acting on intelligence inputs, the Chamoli police arrested Satyapal Singh, former soldier and resident of Gopeshwar, from in front of a local hotel and recovered 45 sticks of gelatin, which is a prohibited ‘class-II explosive’.

“We have arrested an ex-serviceman today with 18-kg explosives. The person has been arrested and we are interrogating him to know further information. Although, it is almost clear that it was not a terrorist attempt to target Char Dham Yatra,” said Tripti Bhatt, Superintendent of Police (SP) Chamoli.

Bhatt added that the recovered explosive is usually used by agencies for blasting stones and quarrying for construction work in the hills, adding that, “It seems there was a systematic leak in the system as the explosives are used by the agencies involved in road construction in hilly areas and further arrests would be made soon.”