Trading and killing are both organized through global networks that do not always remain distinct. The recycling, in Punjab, of the metallic remains of New York?s World Trade Center was one of the bizarre ironies of transformation ? globalized terror turning into liberalized economics. But the process can be dangerous. Imported metallic scrap all over the country is now turning out to be full of the wastes of war and terror, some of it still live enough to kill. Ten people died and fifteen were injured in a scrap factory in Uttar Pradesh, when a massive quantity of ?unexploded ordnance?, mixed with the scrap, blew up suddenly. The $25,000 scrap filled 11 trucks and contained enough live ammunition to supply a small army or to substantially damage the entire town of Ghaziabad if the explosives had got into the furnace. There were 43 pieces of UXO, including mortars, grenades, anti-tank mines and shells. The route by which these materials came to Ghaziabad has been traced back to Iran, from where they came into India through a port in Gujarat via mediating agents in Dubai. The scrap was cleared by Indian customs and inspected at various stages. But nobody had been able to detect the presence of the ammunition. Yet, most significantly, senior managers of the Ghaziabad factory have admitted to knowing that there were explosives in the steel scrap imported from Iran recently. Since then, such hidden ammunition has been cropping up all over India, from Mumbai to Siliguri, dumped indiscriminately by importers frightened of being caught with them on their premises. Apart from Iran, ammunition from nations like Somalia and Yemen has also been found in other parts of the country.

An immediate tightening up of import checks and regulations is necessary, and this has been done to a certain extent by the Centre. It is not simply a question of changing the rules, but of implementing them strictly at the ports, docks and other inspection points. Metal waste imported from countries ravaged by war or insurgency, coming into India across its western border, through Pakistan, Afghanistan and west Asia, cannot all be melted piece by piece. So setting proper norms, their implementation, and preventing related corruption are crucial. Otherwise such explosives could easily end up in the wrong hands within the country, a nexus of which no evidence has been found yet.