Two ‘pipe bombs’ recovered

Tension prevailed in Shankar Nagar after two suspected ‘pipe bombs’ were recovered from the premises of a private cement factory on Tuesday night.The police suspect that it was the handiwork of a few

Tension prevailed in Shankar Nagar after two suspected ‘pipe bombs’ were recovered from the premises of a private cement factory on Tuesday night. The police suspect that it was the handiwork of a few terminated contract workers. A few hundred permanent employees and over a thousand contract labourers were working in a private factory which is supplying construction material to various parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The management had to recently stop a few hundred contract labourers from attending work following instructions from the State Government that all manufacturing units would be allowed to function with a minimum workforce in the wake of COVID-19. Against this backdrop, the factory authorities allegedly received threatening phone calls from a few unidentified persons on Tuesday night that improvised explosives would go off at five places in the factory premises if they were not given compensation of ₹ 50 lakh. Following complaints, Thazhaiyoothu police checked the factory premises with the help of Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad that led to the recovery of two ‘pipe bombs’ from the plant.