Pindi CTD rushes to secure explosives after Swat blast

Sources say huge amounts of incendiary substances are kept in warehouse

RAWALPINDI:

In the wake of the explosion in the armoury of the CTD police station in Swat the process of further securing the explosive materials including chemicals, detonators, rockets and other devices, recovered from terrorists, kept in the warehouse of the Rawalpindi CTD police station has been started.

Monday’s blast had left 18 people, including 11 policemen and two civilians, dead while over 50 others sustained injuries.

Sources told The Express Tribune that like other CTD police stations, Rawalpindi's only CTD police station houses huge quantities of explosives, mines and ammunition recovered from terrorist networks in various operations, which, in case of any negligence, could cause severe damage.

Senior officers of Rawalpindi's CTD department have immediately made a plan to secure such materials more efficiently in the police station after the tragic incident in Swat.

The sources said that the bomb disposal squad defuses the explosives and various other devices are kept in the CTD police station's warehouse in a conventional manner but there was still a risk of explosion of such materials due to fire, electrical short circuit or other human negligence.

According to sources, a proposal has been placed before the officers that such an arrangement should be made in which the warehouse of the CTD police station and other departments are kept in separate buildings.

They said that the explosive materials or other devices in the warehouse are important pieces of evidence recovered from the terrorists, whose immediate and complete destruction can provide relief to the detained terrorists, therefore, it is a legal obligation to preserve such explosives until their cases are decided by the courts.

The sources further said that there is also a legal method of destruction of such material which involves taking formal permission from the court and destroying such material in a highly controlled environment in the presence of court personnel to avoid any loss of life.

After the tragic incident in Swat CTD police station, there are concerns among the officers working in the CTD department, therefore, it has been decided to chalk out a plan and implement it immediately to remove their concerns.

The sources added that the plan implemented in Rawalpindi CTD police station can later be implemented in the CTD police stations across Punjab, the final approval of which will be given by the Punjab IGP.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2023.