Mumbai attack?: Hand grenade maker goes to court over ‘missing’ boxes

SHC seeks assistance of the CID, Rangers to prepare inventory.

KARACHI: A maker of hand grenades in Karachi has gone to court over possibly missing stock after he learnt that they may have been used in the Mumbai attack and in another in Bangladesh.

The company, Ulbricht Pvt., makes the Arges grenade and its owner Iqbal Hussain is alleging that nine out of 69 boxes sealed by an army inspector have gone missing.

Hussain has been embroiled in a financial problem as a result of which his factory, located in Korangi Industrial Area, was supposed to be auctioned off to pay back a bank loan dating to 2000. However, as it was no ordinary factory, a court ruled that it can only be acquired by the military.

According to Hussain, matters became complicated and the plot was purchased by a third party. He alleges that they took gunny bags full of grenades and dumped them somewhere else.

Ulbricht Pvt. makes the grenades on licence from the Pakistan Ordnance Factory. According to Hussain, they can sell for anything between Rs800 and Rs8,000 a piece, depending on the buyer.

On Monday, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Sindh High Court heard two counter suits concerning the factory. One of them was filed by Ulbricht Pvt. and the defendant was identified as Muhammad Shamsher Alam.

Plaintiff Hussain maintains that he will not accept delivery of the stock of 60,000 hand grenades from his factory until they are counted and responsibility is affixed for the allegedly missing ones.

Justice Sajjad Ali summoned Crime Investigation Department’s SSP Chaudhry Aslam Khan and officials from the Pakistan Rangers, who was represented by a Major. The court ordered its Nazir, the SSP and Rangers to count the available hand grenades and prepare a detailed inventory. The CID was also asked to look into how and who was responsible for the missing ones.

They have a week to do this and submit a report.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2012.