During a routine checking and frisking operation of vehicles passing at night, at state highway 14 in Rampurhat, Birbhum Police has intercepted a truck and has seized 16,000 kilograms of ammonium nitrate powder.

Three persons who were travelling in the truck have been arrested.

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The driver failed to produce any valid papers. All the three arrested persons are residents of Telangana state.

The truck was coming from Sangareddy district in Telangana and was going to Deoghar district in Jharkhand via West Bengal through Birbhum district.

Total 320 sacks of ammonium powder were seized by Birbhum Police.

All the three arrested persons have been forwarded to Rampurhat Court today and police have sought custody for further investigations. Each sack contained 50 kilograms of the ammonium nitrate powder. The sacks were covered by a black tarpaulin sheet.

For forensic investigations samples of the seized chemical powder will be sent to the State Forensic Research Laboratory.

The truck was intercepted on the way to Tarapith from Rampurhat near Mansuba More around 10 p.m. last night.

Normally these chemicals are used for agricultural purposes but even the ammonium nitrate powder is often used for preparation of IED. Aman Deep, SP of Birbhum has said that police have started investigations and lodged an explosives case.

However, this is not the first incident of seizure of ammonium nitrate from vehicles in Birbhum district. Earlier, Birbhum district police, STF and even National Investigation Agency (NIA) have seized the chemical powder.