Over 100 bombs recovered from Bengal's Birbhum district

The police have seized caches of bombs, arms and ammunition from various areas of Birbhum district and arrested nine persons in this regard.

A total of 112 crude and socket bombs, six country- made weapons and as many ammunition were recovered from six police station areas during night-long raids on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Shyam Singh said Sunday.

Of the 112 bombs, 40 were recovered from Labhpur, 32 from Nanoor, 20 from Panrui, nine each from Kankartala and Sadaipur and two from Rampurhat police station limits, the SP said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP have been accusing each other of stockpiling bombs in various areas of the district for quite sometime.

An abandoned building in the compound of a primary health centre (PHC) collapsed in an explosion in Labhpur area on early Thursday last week.

Four days before that, an explosion severely damaged a club building in Mallarpur area.

During Saturday's raids, police arrested a total of 399 persons, of which 228 were preventive detentions, Singh said.

The SP said 65 others were arrested in specific cases and 106 accused had pending cases registered against them.