Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Piyal de Silva held a meeting with the manufacturers and distributors of explosives in the country, at the Admiral Somathilake Dissanayake Auditorium on April 29.
Having welcomed the Civil Security and Development Additional Secretary of the Defence Ministry, as well as officials from the Kelani Fireworks company and the Central Arms and Ammunition Depot, the Vice-Admiral highlighted the consequences that follow the misuse of explosives, especially considering the current situation in the country.
The Navy Commander added that only licensed stakeholders were permitted to obtain explosives from the Commercial Explosive Firearms Procurement Unit in Welisara. However, he said, whether it was known or unknown to licensed stakeholders, a number of explosives had fallen into the wrong hands.
The Navy had recently seized a large stock of water gel explosives across the country. Fifty-nine kilograms of water gel explosives had been seized in 2017, while 94kg of water gel explosives was seized last year. Around 72kg of the material had been seized so far this year.
Meanwhile, security forces and the police had also seized large quantities of water gel explosives during raids conducted in areas where the terrorists connected to the Easter Sunday attacks were said to have been active in.
Vice-Admiral Piyal de Silva said that stern action would be taken against those who illegally supply explosives.
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