KA-23 A 86 (Karnataka), KL-12 9302 (Kerala), MH-15 AG 6616 (Maharashtra), AP 23 U 8868 (Andhra Pradesh) — the plates of the neatly parked row of mini-trucks outside the gates of AP Explosives (P) Ltd show where detonators manufactured by the company are headed for.

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.

... contd.