Explosives recovered from a cement factory in Tamil Nadu

A pair of pipe bombs found planted in the premises of a private cement factory in the Sankar Nagar region of Tamil Nadu Tirunelveli district was kidnapped today, police said.

The private cement factory which hired workers on a regular and contractual basis had recently laid off some of them following instructions from the state government that the factory should operate with minimal labor due to the restrictions related to the covid19 pandemic.

Police said factory officials had received a phone call demanding payment of Rs 50 lakh to the dismissed workers, with the unidentified callers threatening to plant bombs at five locations in the factory if the demand was not met. .

On Tuesday evening, the bomb squad which was later called into service and recovered the two pipe bombs.

The police added that the bomb would be inspected in detail before being defused. They suspect the explosives could have been planted by fired employees and an investigation was underway to identify the culprit.

An FIR has been filed in connection with the incident against “unknown persons”, police said.

Tirunelveli Police Superintendent N Manivanan visited the factory and conducted investigations.

Meanwhile, factory workers have been asked to stay home.