With a capacity to manufacture 1 lakh detonators per day, about 20 million to 28 million detonators, each 43 mm long, are supplied by the company each year across the country. It’s out of this stockpile that police say some slipped into the hands of those behind the Gujarat blasts last Saturday and the unexploded bombs in Surat the day after.

Tracking their trail isn’t going to be easy given that once these detonators cross the factory’s gates, the company itself admits that it doesn’t monitor what happens to the sticks, how many reach the intended destination or whether some are siphoned off or pilfered en route.

As The Indian Express first reported, in just two years, 2004-2006, for which data collection is complete, the scale of explosive theft nationwide is staggering: 86,899 detonators, 20,150 kg of slurry explosives, 52,740 metres of detonating fuse and 419 kg of gelatin sticks. Not just this, huge quantities of explosive cartridges and boosters have been stolen from magazines (stores for explosives) and explosive vans.

Nestled between rocky hillocks in a remote corner of Bommalramaram Mandal of Nalgonda district is AP Explosives (P) Ltd, whose markings were found in the Gujarat bombs. Officials decline to show registers or stock books. The factory’s owners Indrasen Reddy and Venkateshwara Reddy were not available for comment.

Says the company’s general manager R Subba Rao: “We send a report on the quantity and number of consignments dispatched from the factory every month to the Circle Inspector of the area. We supply only to purchasers who have a license issued by the government. Once the trucks leave our premises, it is not our concern what happens to them. It is not our business anymore. The onus is on the purchaser to keep track of it.”

Asked about the fact that the company’s markings were found in the Gujarat blasts, Rao said: “The company’s owners are of the opinion that they supply detonators to distributors or dealers across the country. These detonators only initiate an explosion, they are not explosives in themselves. Once the distributors buy from the company, what they do or to whom they sell afterwards or what happens next is not the company’s responsibility.”

So what are the checks and safeguards? Does the company maintain a record of proof of delivery to the consignees? “No. When we receive an order or an invoice, we simply send the quantity specified by the purchaser. We only make sure he has a license. There is no need for proof of delivery since we send the monthly report to the local police,” general manager Rao says. Have there been any complaints of theft en route? “There have been no complaints in the last ten years,” Rao says.

However, Rao is hard put to explain the seizure of four boxes containing detonators manufactured by the company from a truck in January this year. The detonators were seized by Mothkur police under Bhongir division of Warangal during a routine checking. According to police, the truck driver was not carrying any invoice or valid papers pertaining to purchase or sale of the consignment.

Talking to The Indian Express, Rao admitted that except for some 40 big purchasers like cement and iron-ore companies, the company has no idea what the 1100 distributors do with the detonators purchased from them. “The licensed distributors to whom we supply have a chain of hundreds of sub-dealers and small distributors and retail sellers under them. Frankly speaking, we cannot monitor even our main distributors who are spread across the country. After we submit our monthly reports it is up to the police and investigating agencies to check all that,” he says.

“Ìf our detonators were used for the wrong purpose, they could have been bought from anywhere, from any dealer or sub-dealer. How can anyone keep a check on this?”

Circle Inspector of Bhongir division Radhesh Murali says he receives monthly reports from the company. The Circle Inspector is also the officer required to conduct monthly inspections. “The reports don’t mean anything because they simply indicate the name of the purchaser and quantity. At the best we can make an assessment how many detonators were supplied by the company in a month. If a consignment goes missing, then it has to be investigated as to from where it went missing. The company has never lodged a complaint with us in all these years. Neither have we received any complaint from any purchaser,” said Murali, adding that he inspected the company’s stocks on July 20.

Theft of explosives and detonators came up on the government’s radar after ammonium nitrate was found in virtually every major terrorist attack. Last year, a high-level group was set up to conduct spot investigations on the quantum and areas of explosive pilferage. Government sources said officials from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) were meant to inspect facilities of large explosive manufacturers and conduct field investigations on leakages from mining sites and contractors.

Even the Home Secretary issued an alert on the “free diversion” of ammonium nitrate along with pilfered commercial explosives. The Nagpur-based Chief Controller of Explosives had sent a note to all explosive manufacturers informing them that the chemical constituted approximately 70% of all slurry and emulsion explosives and that “given the background of misuse of the ammonium nitrate by terrorists/anti-social elements, it has become imperative to monitor its manufacture, movement and use.” And called for an online database updated daily on sale and purchase of explosives.