Gelatin Sticks A New Choice For Militants To Target Security Forces, Reveals Police Probe

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Gelatin

‘Jaish militants managing supply of Gelatin to make IEDs, police launches probe to nab supply links’

Nasir Azam

Srinagar:  An internal investigations by the Jammu and Kashmir police into the arrest of five Jaish-e-Muhammad militants has revealed that militants are relying more on Gelatin sticks to prepare IEDs to target security forces in the Valley. Gelatin is largely used at the stone quarries in Kashmir and is available at government counters.

A senior police officer revealed to the wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that it has been found that the five Jaish-e-Muhammad men arrested from Srinagar, who were involved in two grenade attacks at Hazratbal and Habbak areas recently, had managed 100 to 200 sticks of Gelatin with a sole aim of making IEDs to target security forces.

Gelatin or simply jelly, is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitro-glycol and mixed with wood pulp and saltpetre (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate).

“During the course of investigations, we found that the arrested militants from Jaish had dumped 200 sticks of Gelatin in Srinagar area. We raided the area and seized the Gelatin and other items including nitric acid. This signifies that the arrested Jaish men were planning a major strike on the eve of Republic Day,” the officer, privy to the investigations said.

Gelatin is largely used by the stone-quary owners for blasting mountain to fetch small and large stones that are usually used for laying plinth of residential houses and government buildings across Kashmir. “Yes, we do use Gelatin to blow mountain part at Pantha Chowk area to get quality stones for construction purpose. We have been getting Gelatin supply against the proper permission by the government,” an owner of a stone quarry at Pantha Chowk told KNO.

Another police officer said that a probe has been launched to find out how militants especially those from the Jaish manage Gelatin sticks. “We will find out soon where from the militants are procuring the Gelatin,” he said.

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