Karkala : The court extends the judicial custody of Biju Thomas, who was recently arrested for finding large quantity of explosive materials found in his various estates of Karkala, till May 17.

It is learnt that, Biju Thomas, who is suspected to be involved in the illegal sale of ammonium nitrate to stone quarries for several years, was arrested from Gurgaon, Haryana on April 27, Sunday and brought to Karkala on April 29, Tuesday. Further the court had remanded him in police custody for five days.

Previously, Udupi Police on March 25, had seized 62 tons of ammonium nitrate, 50,350 detonators and 19,250 meters of safety fuse wires from three houses in Karkala. However, on March 27, the police also found 40,000 detonators and seized them from an abandoned van.

The police also found large number of explosives buried in a pit belonging to a land owned by Biju himself.

In this regard, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was also informed about the 95 tones ammonium nitrate and detonators seized from him.