Explosives recovered from private cement factory in TN

A pair of pipe bombs found planted in the premises of a private cement factory at Sankar Nagar near here were removed, police said on Wednesday. The bombs were quite powerful and would be defused.

Tirunelveli: A pair of pipe bombs found planted in the premises of a private cement factory at Sankar Nagar near here were removed, police said on Wednesday. The bombs were quite powerful and would be defused. The private cement factory which engaged workers on a regular and contract basis had recently terminated some of the latter following instructions from the state government that the plant should function with minimum workforce due to covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

According to police, the factory officials had received a phone call demanding payment of Rs 50 lakh to the terminated workers, with the unidentified callers threatening to plant bombs in five places in the factory if the demand was not met. On Tuesday night, the bomb squad which was subsequently pressed into service recovered the two pipe bombs.

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Police added the bomb would be inspected in detail before being defused. They suspect the explosives could have been planted by terminated employees and investigation was on to identify the culprit. An FIR has been filed in connection with the incident against ''unknown persons,'' police said. Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police N Manivanan visited the factory and held enquiries. Meanwhile, the factory employees have been asked to stay home.

(PTI)