ISLAMABAD: The chance intercept by police in Dera Ghazi Khan of two unauthorised trucks carrying high explosives two days ago, after they had travelled hundreds of kilometres from Haripur, has exposed the security system and the manner in which such sensitive materials are being released by private factories without proper licence and safety measures.
The negligence also raised the possibility of such material falling into the hands of militants.
Investigations carried out by Dawn revealed that a number of procedures and rules were flouted in the shipment, with authorities now compelled to hold a proper investigation into the manner in which explosives technically meant for dynamite construction sites or mining areas could be siphoned off.
The trucks, bearing registration number PLA-760 and PLA-530, were stopped by Wahwah police in D.G. Khan on Tuesday. The trucks were parked on the roadside until an expert advised to take them at least 1,000 yards away from the road.
While government officials said the explosives were being carried without any licence, the owner of the factory claimed that it was a lawful consignment confiscated by police to ‘show efficiency’.
Haroon Rehman, the chief inspector in the industries ministry’s explosives department, told Dawn that the trucks were carrying explosives weighing 58,500kg. There was no licence and the load was much higher than the prescribed limit of 8,000kg per van, he added.
Inspector of explosives (Multan circle) Shahid Mehmood, who inspected the trucks, said the trucks were carrying detonators, explosives and blaster which were normally used for road crushing. He said that one truck was carrying 30,000kg of explosives and the other 28,500kg.
Police have lodged an FIR and the explosives department has sealed the trucks.
Mr Mehmood said the explosives material belonged to Biafo Industries Hattar, one of the two explosives manufacturing companies in the private sector.
The owner of Biafo Industries, Khawaja Amanullah Askari, is reported to have held a meeting with Industries Minister Manzoor Wattoo and Additional Secretary Javed Malik. However, Mr Wattoo denied he had any meeting with the owner of the company.
Mr Askari told Dawn that he had held a meeting with the additional secretary, but it was before he came to know about the incident.
He said the consignment was meant for the Saindak gold and copper project. It was not something new and the company had been supplying explosives for the project sine 1992 and it was in the knowledge of the government, he added. ‘We have all documents required under the law, including letters from the ministries of industries and commerce.’
Mr Askari claimed that the limit of 8,000kg of explosives for one truck was not applicable to consignments that came under the ambit of export. He said the monthly requirement at Saindak was 400-500kg. ‘It is illogical to take explosives in low quantity to a distance of 2,700 kilometres.’
He said the registration of FIR was the result of a mistake committed by the ‘police who are working under pressure’.
Mr Askari said his company was an approved government manufacturer, a major taxpayer and was listed on Karachi and Islamabad stock exchanges.
‘It is incorrect to say that the explosives were not being transported in approved vans.’
The trucks belonged to Al Fazal Company, a licensed contractor whose vans had been carrying supplies to Pakistan Ordnance Factories and several oil companies for years, he added.
The owner said that the chief secretary and the home secretary of Punjab were being approached to close the case and warned that many large-scale projects would close down if it was not done.
There have been several incidents of pilferage of explosives in the past as well. In one such case, the licence of an explosives dealer, Anar Gul, had been cancelled after a stock checking in August found that 5,000kg of explosives and 20,000 detonators had been missing without any record of buyers. But his licence was restored by then industries secretary Shahab Khawaja.
Mr Khawaja, who is now the privatisation secretary, confirmed that he had restored the licence after he received a communication from the Balochistan home department that the allegation had been found to be untrue.
V 250 tons of Ammonium Nitrate 
