Troops seize blasting caps, cyanide in southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / November 10, 2009) – Filipino troops seized a cache of blasting caps and cyanide at a warehouse in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi, officials said Tuesday.

Officials said some 3,700 pieces of blasting caps and seven boxes of cyanide, including 87 meters of detonation cords were recovered Monday from the warehouse in the capital town of Bongao.

A man earlier arrested at a military checkpoint for trying to sneak out a box of blasting caps and detonating cord led troops in the warehouse where the explosives were stashed.

The warehouse is owned by a man identified only as Nasser, said Marine Major Ramon David Hontiveros, a regional military spokesman.

“The military is coordinating with the police for the legal processing of the suspects,” he said.

It was unknown whether any of the two men had links with rebel groups or where the blasting caps and cyanide came from. In September, police forces also seized 10,000 pieces of blasting caps and 3,000 meters of detonating cords from a warehouse in Zamboanga City.

Blasting caps are also widely used in homemade explosives containing ammonium nitrate in the restive region.

Last month, Philippine authorities seized more than six tons of the banned chemical in in Tawi-Tawi’s Bongao town. The chemical fertilizers were believed smuggled into the southern Philippine from nearby Malaysia.

In May, a marine patrol intercepted a small boat transporting more than 280 bags of ammonium nitrate at a wharf in Sulu province. (Mindanao Examiner)