DSP Ashok Kumar Roy with the ammo haul in Khunti on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, March 7: A huge haul of explosives, enough to blow up the state Assembly, was recovered by the police from a spot near Sapphire International School, barely 10km from the state police headquarters, in Khunti police station area last evening.

The 50kg haul comprised ammonium nitrate. Along with the explosives, also recovered were 500m of fuse wire and 100 pieces of detonators. The explosives were kept in a white Maruti Omni van with registration number JH-07 B 1006.

Police sources said ammonium nitrate was a key ingredient for making a deadly explosive mixture.

“When mixed with sulphur, charcoal and splinters, the amount of ammonium nitrate we have recovered is enough to blow up massive buildings like the state Assembly and Project Bhavan,” a Khunti police officer said, requesting anonymity.

Sources said ammonium nitrate was preferred by Maoists as it was easy to carry. “Ammonium nitrate is also used as fertilizer and it is easy for anyone to keep the item at home without any legal complications. Maoists often use the item to prepare can bombs which are laid under the soil to prepare landmines,” a police officer said.

Khunti superintendent of police Asim Vikrant Minz confirmed the recovery and said those present in the vehicle escaped under the cover of darkness before the police could nab them. “We are trying to identify the vehicle owner with the help of the registration number for further action,” he said.

In another breakthrough, the police detected and defused two can bombs, each weighing 15 kg, hidden by suspected Maoist rebels at Biding village, about 110km from the state capital under Rania police station area of Khunti district. The bombs were detected early yesterday morning during a long-range police patrol.

However, police sources said the detections were only the tip of the iceberg.

“The quantity recovered is nothing in comparison to the 23 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that was taken away by Maoists in November 2008 from the Daru-Petarwar valley in Ramgarh district. The consignment, meant for manufacture of explosives at Indian Explosives Ltd in Gomia, was dispatched from the IEL godown in Raipur on November 27 on a truck, which was hijacked by the Maoists,” a police official said.