Two plastic bombs found near mosque in Madurai

Wasim had called two of his friends, Shahjahan and Khaja Sheik, who had accompanied him to the mosque and had shown them the objects. As one of the plastic balls was broken, they opened it and found some explosives.

When one of them lit the fuse in the ball, fire emanated to a height of six feet but the ball did not explode. Immediately, they informed the mosque authorities who, in turn, informed the police. In the police investigation they found that the plastic balls might have been thrown from a nearby area and hence one of them was broken. Also they found gold foil wrapped around the plastic balls to prevent the explosives from coming out.

It was also found that only chemicals that were used in ordinary crackers were loaded inside the plastic balls. Three fuses and 130 grams of explosives loaded in plastic balls were recovered from the spot.

Karimedu police have booked a case. Police sources said that recently mosque authorities had asked all 90 shops in the mosque complex to close down. Except a few, most of the shops closed down. The explosives might be a threat to mosque authorities not to force others to close the shops, said the sources.