Banka: Police recovered 340 bags containing 170 quintals of ammonium nitrate, an important ingredient in manufacturing explosives, from the house of a suspected explosive supplier.

According to Banka superintendent of police Chandan Kushwaha, the huge quantity of ammonium nitrate was recovered Niraj Singh's house in Dhouri village under the Maoist-hit Belhar block of Banka late on Wednesday night.

"Acting on a tip-off, we conducted the raid at the house of Niraj Singh and recovered the ammonia nitrate, which was stored there," Kushwaha said.

The SP added that Niraj Singh was suspected to be a supplier of ammonium nitrate to Maoists in Bihar and Jharkhand areas. "Jharkhand police are on the lookout for him too," he said. "A case has been lodged against him with Belhar police station and we have started investigating the case. Attempts to arrest Niraj are on."

A source said Dumka police in Jharkhand had on August 2 recovered 249 bags full of ammonium nitrate from a house rented by Niraj Singh.

Dumka police also seized a pick-up van, which carried the ingredient and arrested its driver, Krishna Kumar Yadav, a native of Deoghar district.

"Krishna, in his confessional statement, gave some important clues on the stock of ammonium nitrate. Dumka police communicated the message to their Banka counterparts following that the raids and subsequently the recovery from Niraj Singh's house at Dhouri village was done," said the source.

The sources also revealed about Niraj Singh's modus operandi. He was under the scanner of security agencies both in Bihar and Jharkhand since long. "Earlier he used to supply ammonium nitrate mainly to stone quarries in the Santhal Parganas in Jharkhand but later, he became a big supplier for the Maoists," intelligence sources said.

They added that Maoists manufactured different explosives from ammonia nitrate and used to utilise it against the police and paramilitary forces deployed in the region.